We published a post about lead in fabrics about a year ago, but I thought it was important enough to remind you of the dangers of lead in fabrics, because we’re starting to see claims of “heavy metal free” dyestuffs used in fabrics. What does that mean? Lead is considered one of those “heavy metals’ …
John Wargo wears at least three hats: he is a professor of environmental policy, risk analysis, and political science at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, he chairs the Environmental Studies Major at Yale College, and is an advisor to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He published this opinion on …
Ever wonder why you buy those organic foods that cost more? It’s always a bit of sticker shock when you see the organic and conventional side by side. The organic strawberries may taste better, but this economy means we have to pinch every penny. As my husband says, an apple is an apple, so why …
Just in case you missed the recent report which was published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine [1], a Canadian study found that women who work with some common synthetic materials could treble their risk of developing breast cancer after menopause. The data included women working in textile factories which produce acrylic fabrics – those …
Whoa, caught your attention, didn’t I? I’m actually not talking about the company that contacted us to provide organic fabrics for their sexy lingerie, but rather the ways our fabric choices (or rather the chemicals in them) can effect our reproductive systems. Because many of the chemicals (i.e. chlorine, phthalates, PBDE’s) used in textile processing …
I just found a website that threw me for a loop: It’s called Sailhome (www.sailhome.org). It was started by a regular guy – a physicist living in San Francisco who was the VP of marketing for a semiconductor intellectual property company – named Ron. Ron’s son, born almost 10 years ago, began to show signs …
Last week I promised to take a look at soil and stain repellant finishes to see how each is applied and/or formulated. Some of these trademarked finishes claim impeccable green credentials, so it’s important that we are able to evaluate their claims – or at least know the jargon! The chemistry here, as I said …
Why did the manufacturers of children’s bedding and clothing, who urged the Consumer Product Safety Commission to exempt their products from the new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, consider their products safe from lead residues? In many instances the bedding and clothing designed for children are made from naturally grown fibers, often organically grown fibers. …
What does it take to change human behavior? We have known that lead is poisonous ever since the Romans began sprinkling it on their food as a sweetener. Lead was used so extensively in Rome (for metal pots, wine urns, water pipes and plates) that some Romans began to suspect a connection between the metal …
The Environmental Working Group has a new campaign, to gather support for the new Kid Safe Chemicals Act. To understand what the fuss is all about, we’ve copied the page from the EWGs web site, below, but you can go to http://www.ewg.org/kidsafe and see what you can do to help. There is a declaration you …
OEcotextiles 