Children & Baby Organic Products

Why Organic Baby Products?

It is wise to use organic baby products because of many all the chemicals etc used. Conventional cotton farming and its harmful effects is causing more concern among many people especially parents, and this is causing them to search for alternatives. There are many reasons why conventional cotton farming is causing concern, and here are just a few; harm to wildlife, people, the environment, the effects on consumers wearing/using pesticide-laden fabrics and more. These are all factors contributing to the new organic fabric trend.

Cotton Farming - The Conventional Way

After coffee, cotton is the second most pesticide-saturated crop in the world. Cotton represents only 2.4 percent of all cultivated land, but utilises 25 percent of the planet's pesticide and 10 percent of its herbicide production. All of the nine pesticides used in conventional cotton farming are classed as Category I and II (the most dangerous chemicals), by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Five of these chemicals are known agents to cause cancer; dicofol, naled, cyanide, trifluralin and propargite. Many of the most hazardous pesticides available are used in conventional cotton farming, pesticides such as methamidophos, aldicarb, cyanide, phorate, endosulfan, trifluralin, dicofol, propargite and naled, which not only are very hazardous to our health but to the environment and wildlife too.

To protect from insect infestation cotton crops are heavily sprayed with toxic pesticides and herbicides. After harvest the crops are bleached using chlorine bleach, which produces dioxin. These chemicals are usually applied to whiten fabric before dyeing and these chemical dyes are often set with metals such as chromium and copper. After all this Formaldehyde is then used to give the fabric a "wrinkle-free" appearance.

Irritations of the skin such as eczema, psoriasis and allergic rashes are occuring more and more these days, because of the invention of polyester and chemically-treated fabrics. The natural balance of the skin is blocked by trapping heat and preventing it from absorbing adequate moisture, this is due to chemically-treated fabrics. Reactions of the skin such as itching and rashes are common in consumers who wear new items of clothing, it can take several washed before the chemicals are totally striped away.

Cotton Farming - The Alternative

Organic farming works on the principle of working with, not against nature. Organic farmers use organic fertilisers, manual crop rotation and integrated pest management to grow crops, no pesticides are used and spun without chemicals. Animal manure is used as fertiliser, weeds are removed with hoes and tractors and pest-eating insects are used to naturally control crop damage. To have the label 'organic', farms must use soil that has been pesticide free for at least three consecutive years.

Methods of organic farming include the use of natural soil fertilisation using cattle manure, sunflowers are grown to encourage benificial ants to feed on the harmful insects, natural insecticides are used from chilli, garlic and neem trees are planted near by the cotton fields for the benificial insects to use as a refuge.