Why Buy Organic Cotton? | Syracuse Cultural Workers

Why Buy Organic Cotton?

About Our T-shirts We are committed to organic cotton and fair and equitable labor practices.

TOP 10 REASONS To Buy Organic Cotton!

  1. Conventionally grown cotton is the world’s “dirtiest” crop.
  2. 16% of the world’s pesticides are used on cotton.
  3. Pesticides contaminate drinking water and harm wildlife.
  4. Most conventional cotton is now grown in developing countries where environmental and worker protections are minimal.
  5. The EPA has labeled many cotton pesticides as probable or known carcinogens.
  6. Adverse health affects on workers include: birth defects, long-term memory loss, nervous and immune system problems.
  7. The World Health Organization (WHO) says 20,000 farmers die each year from pesticide spraying.
  8. Fish and Wildlife Service reports millions of bees, birds and fish killed annually.
  9. Most conventional cot-ton is now genetically modified which means your purchase may support Monsanto.
  10. Conventional cotton is NOT “natural.”

 

Who benefits when you buy organic cotton?

  • Farmers and rural communities: Being safer, ecological and fair, organic farming directly benefits farmers and their families and allows them a life of dignity. Farmers in organic projects are often land owners and organic premiums are invested in bettering local communities.
  • Factory and mill workers: Organic standards ensure that safe ingredients are used which do not compromise workers’ health. They are spared contact with hazardous chemicals often used in garment finishing factories.
  • Our planet: Organic farming practices are regenerative. Crop rotation and manual cultivation maintain healthy soil, use less fossil fuels and sequester carbon dioxide, helping combat global warming. Better water management conserves this increasingly scarce resource.
  • Wildlife: Birds and animals are spared poisonous pesticides and toxic chemicals in soil, air and water. Conventional farming can create a hostile environment for wildlife and devastate entire eco systems.
  • Consumers: Organic cotton just feels better for the body, mind and soul! People with chemical sensitivity especially seek out natural, untreated organic cotton.
  • Citizens of this Earth: It’s a small world after all! We are all affected by the production and application of pesticides and poisons. We all share the burden and cost of toxic residues in the environment, clean up and impacted health. We may be closer than we think to the cotton farms, chemical factories and waste treatment facilities that handle toxic chemicals used on our clothing. By choosing organic products, we are using our consumer power well and adding our voice to the environmental movement.

Sources:  Hae Now Organic Tee and Pesticide Action Network

Why Sweatshop-Free? Our US sewn shirts are made by companies with fair labor practices paying fair wages. When garments are made overseas, our vendors require documentation (and verification through inspection) that workplace conditions are safe. The horrendous deaths of Bangladesh garment workers (4/24/13) show the importance of sweatshop-free production.