According to the report prepared by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about the hazards of chemicals used in cotton growing areas, 2.4 percent of agricultural lands in the world is used in order to grow cotton and 24 percent of all the insecticides around the world is consumed for cotton production. In the EPA report, many chemicals are used for cotton production compared to all other crops. It is stated that the chemicals used in cotton production are carcinogenic substances, which damage our nervous system.
The report says that the pesticides, which are used in order to prevent and control the hazardous organisms in cotton production, stays on the fibres of cotton, do not disappear after washing and can be easily absorbed by our skin, but the cotton is the most preferred raw material in fabric production. According to the data obtained from US Department of Agriculture (USDA), 38,000 tons of pesticides were sprayed on cotton grown in 2014. These pesticides are 60 times more toxic than ddt and 7 of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton are as "likely" or "known" human carcinogens.
Inevitable Ecological Disasters
EPA says that even less than 10 percent of the chemicals sprayed on cotton can protect the cotton from insects while the remaining chemicals are absorbed by plants, air, soil and finally our body. Sprayed from the air, these highly toxic chemicals can drift into surrounding neighbourhoods, poison farm workers, contaminate air, ground and surface water and cause major eco-system imbalances. As insects gradually become resistant to pesticides, ever-increasing amounts are applied to be effective, resulting in massive ecological disasters and crop failures.
About the report, in which the harmful substances used during the production process in such fields as conventional textile dyeing and printing are included, Jonathan Dyers, who is EPA Chemical Safety and Pollution Protection Department Manager, said that they work in order to protect the public health and increase public awareness and he added that: "The increasing cotton needs and inadequate cultivation areas cause more chemical uses. We conduct various studies in order to prevent this situation."
Stating that they opened their database of EPA for everybody in order to provide them to make healthy choices about the materials used in daily life and To inform the public about the prevention of harmful chemicals, Mr. Dyers said that: "The updated database includes 244 common resolution, "Significant New Use Rule" (Snurs) for the current chemicals and 1205 new ones as well, 16 new chemicals and additions made for Safe Chemicals Content. EPA is publishing its joint resolution and SNURs for the first time at ChemView. With these additions, ChemView provides information on more than 10,000 chemicals."
