Green Peace released their latest detox campaign report this week and the findings are as gut-wrenching as someone putting a gun to your head while stealing all of your favorite clothes! Out of the 20 global companies shown to be dressing us in toxic wear, I ‘ll miss two the most: Levi’s, and Victoria’s Secret.
Here’s the list, who will you miss??
Zara Vera Moda Levis
Calvin Klein Vancyl Bennetton
C&A Tommy Hilfiger Only
Diesel Meters/bonwe Mango Jack
As citizens of the U.S., and humanity as a global unit for that matter, we spend insane amounts of our hard earned money on cosmetics and clothing on a daily basis. Unfortunately a sad amount of these pocket draining purchases, although unknown to a great majority, are not only killing our bank accounts, but our bodies as well. Things we can’t pronounce or even know exist we just don’t know to look for. And when too many of these scientific references appear consecutively in products that are used daily by most of our population, the tryptic molecular language describing these chemicals, for me at least, becomes a greek language; one I accept, but do not to claim to understand. Like the Gyro sandwiches and the gods within the pages of a mythical story, these are things I enjoy but more often than not, have know clue as to what they are literally referring to. Most of these chemicals are endocrine disrupters that cause cumulative problems over time.
According to People for Ethical Living‘s website “Shampoos, hand and body lotions, deodorants, toothpaste and sunscreen contain preservatives that function as estrogen disruptors. The US bans only eight of these compounds while the EU bans 1,000.” I’m sure this is nothing you haven’t heard before, but did you know your clothing could be potentially toxic as well?! Because I did not.
According to the report “A total of 141 items of clothing were purchased in April 2012 in 29 countries and regions worldwide from authorised retailers. The chemicals found included high levels of toxic phthalatesin four of the garments, and cancer-causing amines from the use of certain azo dyes in two garments. NPEs were found in 89 garments (just under two thirds of those tested), showing little difference from the results of the previous investigation into the presence of these substances in sports clothing that was conducted in 2011.”