Hidden Dangers of Conventional Fabrics
Over the past several decades, Hippocrates Health Institute has been researching things that endanger human health. There is danger lurking in something that people touch every day, but give little thought to — their clothing.
An estimated 8,000 chemicals are employed to transform raw materials into clothes, according to The Ecologist magazine. This process involves bleaching, dyeing, scouring, sizing and finishing the fabrics.
Synthetic clothing now commonly contains such toxins as formaldehyde, brominated flame retardants, and perfluorinated chemicals like Teflon fibers to give trousers, skirts and other apparel “non-iron” and “non-wrinkle” durability. Perfluorinated compounds, it should be pointed out, are classified as cancer-causing agents under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.
Important things to know about clothing:
Bras
There are strong correlations between the use of bras and breast lumps or cysts, which are thought to be precursors to breast cancer. Evidence showing a link between bras and breast cancer emerged in 1991 from a study of breast size and breast cancer risk by researchers in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. Published in the European Journal of Cancer, this survey of thousands of women found that, “Premenopausal women who do not wear bras had half the risk of breast cancer compared to bra users.”
Synthetic Clothing
Studies show that synthetic undergarments can warp male sexuality and diminish fertility. Synthetic clothing also poses dangers regarding fire safety, so much so that the commanding general of the Marines in Iraq ordered his troops in 2006 to stop wearing synthetic fabrics any time they went off-base. Medical studies also show that synthetic fibers, conventionally used for athletic clothing, actually inhibit athletic performance. This is because the electrostatic field emission from the clothing affects muscle fibers in the body. Synthetic materials also “off-gas” from the day they’re made until the day they’re thrown away. They release minute amounts of chemicals that are absorbed through the skin and lungs. These toxic fumes can cause cancer and neurological disorders.
Cotton (nonorganic)
Twenty-five percent of all the pesticides used on our planet are sprayed onto cotton crops. For this reason, people should always choose organic cotton or other organic natural fibers.
“Easy Care” Clothing
No-iron or stain-resistant shirts and pants are often sprayed with formaldehyde. While many countries enforce strict regulations regarding formaldehyde, the United States only enforces “voluntary” standards, with no levels or limits stated.
Laundry’s Dirty Secret
An analysis of laundry wastewater, both industrial and from public laundromats, performed a few years ago by the Environmental Working Group, detected a range of hormone-disrupting contaminants being released. Phthalates, used to stabilize fragrances, are hormone-disruptive chemicals commonly added to detergents and other cleaning products.
Fire Retardant
Many nations require infant’s clothing to be sprayed with flame-retardant chemicals. This is among the deadliest clothing treatments and is directly linked with tumor growth and mental illness. Of course, babies are the most sensitive to these kind of toxic materials.
The best immediate changes one can make:
• Buy only natural fiber clothing as you buy new clothes, especially for your children and babies. Good options are cotton, flax, hemp, silk, wool and linen. Less common natural fiber options include alpaca, angora, camel, cashmere, mohair, ramie and saluyot.
• Buy only organic clothing when possible, certainly organic undergarments, since the reproductive organs are among the areas most sensitive to toxins.
• Steer clear of “Easy Care” and flame-retardant clothing.
• Start getting rid of synthetic clothing you’ve accumulated.
“Killer Clothes! How Seemingly Innocent Clothing Choices Endanger Your Health and How to Protect Yourself” reveals in unprecedented detail the surprising number of harmful effects on health caused by garments once considered safe. From toxic chemicals like formaldehyde and phthalates to insecticides, flame retardants, and nanoparticles, synthetic clothing today contains a toxic stew of dozens of substances that pose a threat to both human and environmental health.
Co-authors Dr. Brian Clement and Dr. Anna Maria Clement are co-directors of the internationally-renowned Hippocrates Health Institute (HHI) in West Palm Beach, Florida. These two physicians created wellness and disease prevention programs followed by more than 300,000 people who have attended HHI, as well as millions more world-wide who employ the institute’s teachings. “Killer Clothes” is available in the Hippocrates store.
Photo credit: lamentables
20 Comments
I have gotten a few organic shirts at whole foods do you know of anywhere online I can order affordable organic clothing? Thanks!
Acck! This “D” woman cannot give up her bra! Disaster!! I’m definitely going to look into organic though. Underwear too.
But I do have a question. I try to buy most of our clothing from “gently used” stores. Are those cotton clothes ok?
We only wear natural fabrics against our skin, but I never considered that the fleece sweatshirts we wear over might be a breathing problem if if they never touch our skin. Oh dear . .. more closet cleaning coming up!
So what should women who are “well-endowed” do? Going bra-less is really not an option. They don’t make bralettes for DD cups or bigger…
i have a hard enough time finding synthetic underwear. natural clothes are mostly ugly, expensive, and often not durable. Not to mention u need to iron a lot of (im never ironing again). from the fabrics above, some are animal, so once u eliminate those you’re left w/very little. until someone figures out the correct way to do this, its useless. its like toilet paper, no one has figured out how to make organic plush, soft, thick. if we’re going to look at toxins, practically every single thing we own, use & surrounded by is full of them.
What is the organic standard for clothing? Is there one?
I was wondering this the other day at the lawn and garden store while looking at the bags of organic soil. Is there even a standard for it, or can anyone call it organic?
PS
I’m not being a butthead. I really want to know. I grow a lot of my own food, so that i know it is unsprayed. If I knew how to weave fabric, I would, but I don’t. So, I would love to know the reality of the situation.
Off to research!
Yes can we talk more about this bra issue? That’s a little terrifying–what’s the answer?…I really have to wear bras for work/theatre. Scary stuff!
Fascinating – my daughter had eczema when she was born and still has very sensitive-skin. We pretty much stick to cotton and fragrance-free detergents. I’d never considered organic cotton clothes for kids – but a quick web search shows that they do exist.
Hello my name is Tim Jordan. My first blog post here. Very informative post. I have the same question as Kim. I buy clothes from goodwill and other types of stores like that. I imagine that them being older that the chemicals are being washed out.
That’s a very good question and I hope it’s true. It’s like new cars, they have so many chemicals sprayed into the seats and etc… I hear it’s best to buy used cars. I want a car that has organic seats!
Thanks and I love this blog, looking to reading the posts :)
@Peggy — I bought a bag of organic soil and it had plastic shredded into it. So not organic! It was even a local brand, so I was really disappointed.
And I definitely think someone should address this bra question in a post!
This was a pretty unhelpful article: “bras give you cancer!” Alarming, frightening, no alternatives given, and for this large breasted gal, not wearing a bra is not an option. A poor entry for your normally lovely blog.
http://www.gaiam.com/product/crossover+bra.do Great place to order organic under garments.
Women weren’t BORN with bras to wear. Bras were man made. It’s called “breast conformity” BACK TO NATURE…
Bras DO NOT cause breast cancer. The studies cited had design flaws. It’s too bad to see Kris veering into alarmist territory. Think about it: if “bras caused breast cancer” 90% + of women would have breast cancer. This is what happens when people are uneducated: they believe everything they read.
@Courtney: Nothing in this post literally said that bras CAUSE breast cancer. I believe it said there were strong correlations between the two, and that there was evidence that they were linked. I do agree with you that there is a problem with people believing everything they read and that before anyone gets freaked out they, should do more research.. but please don’t put words into anyone’s mouth. That’s just as bad…
My personal experience with bras was this: as a teenager, I really had a hard time finding a bra, that was pure cotton (being allergic to almost all of the synthetic fibres), and that fitted me properly. I read somewhere, that 80% of women do not wear the right sized bra! Amazing! I think it is rather the ill fitting bras that cause the problem, not the bra wearing in general. Before my pregnancy, I had a constant pain in my left breast, and my doctor said, I should have changed my bras with wires, because they constantly pushed my breast. He was right! I got pregnant, and I could not wear any bras that had wires in them (as I was wearing before). During breastfeeding, I learned, that the wireless bras were much more comfortable, than my old ones, and I cannot wear them anymore, they push me in different places. Changing my bras made my days more comfortable. (and I am a D cup.)
I would think the significant correlation here would be between the increased likelihood of wearing a bra in an indutrialized society. Industrialized societies also happen to have more unhealthy food, more money to spend on pesticides, and a more sedentary population, incidentally, all factors strongly linked to increased cancer risk.
I appreciate informative posts, but I don’t like it when alternatives are not mentioned. How is this helpful? All it does is create worry…
Moderation is key as is alkalizing your body to counter balance risks outside of your food consumption. Now that we know the dangers, minimize your purchases of synthetic garments, take a day or two off a week or a few extra hours everyday with out your bra, thin out the closet and your home of synthetics versus completely eliminating it all. This will highly reduce your risk and a healthy lifestyle will most certainly assist with the balance! Life is full of dangers, so it’s all in how you choose to navigate them!
Synthetic clothing disrupts the normal healthy acupuncture meridians flow of energy. I would not hold my breath waiting for the allopathic medical community to discover this since subtle energies are involved. Wearing organic natural fiber will reduce the risk of disease but it will not eliminate all risk since there are many other factors to disease causation like electromagnetic pollution.
Marks and Spencers bras now have a health warning on them, saying they should not be worn for more than 8 hours. scary stuff!
April 15, 2011