Microfibers from the washing of synthetic clothing are part of the larger problem of microplastic pollution in natural waterways. Much thinner than a strand of hair, these tiny pieces of plastic are shed by every garment made with synthetic materials when they are washed in a washing machine.

“I surveyed thousands and thousands of kilometers of ocean. We found microfibers in nearly 90 percent of the samples, and in every sample we found fibers, they were the majority of particles we identified,” said Amy Lusher, a British-based microplastics researcher and a co-author of a 2014 study of microplastic pollution in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean.

Does this affect the environment or our own personal health? Researchers are still trying to determine what effects might climb up the food chain and affect humans eating seafood and our drinking water.

Studies have found that a single synthetic garment can release from up to 700,00 microfibers each.

The solution? Researchers are working to develop a “microfiber catcher” that consumers will be able to throw into their washing machines, trapping the fibers inside the appliance rather than sending them out to sea in wastewater.

I suggest we all wear biodegradable natural fibers instead.

THE WASHINGTON POST: Are Synthetic Fleece and Other Types of Clothing Harming Our Water?
 

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Pesticide Action Network (PAN) just released an almost 100-page report titled simply Glyphosate, which compiles information on the chemical, health impacts, human exposures, poisonings, environmental effects, and alternatives. If you have ever had questions about glyphosate, the answers are probably in this report. Bookmark this page, as it is the definitive work on glyphosate, which you may need to refer to at some time.

And if your questions aren’t answered in Glyphosate, there’s even more information in this article: ACTIVIST POST: Glyphosate Contaminates The Global Ecosystem: The Damning New PAN Report. This article explains in simple terms key points from the PAN report, plus gives links to many other articles on glyphosate, including a post from this very Q&A: Glyphosate Detox: How to Remove Roundup From Your Body

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) is a global network of over 600 participating nongovernmental organizations, institutions and individuals in over 90 countries working to replace the use of hazardous pesticides with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives such as agroeoclogy. PAN was founded in 1982 and has five independent, collaborating Regional Centers that implement its projects and campaigns.

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If you experience health effects from fragrances in common consumer products, you’re not alone.

Professor Anne Steinemann—a world expert on environmental pollutants, air quality and health effects—has found that more than one-third of Americans report health problems—from asthma attacks to migraine headaches—when exposed to common consumer products that contain fragrances, such as air fresheners, cleaning supplies, laundry products, scented candles, cologne, and personal care products.

The study also found that fragranced products may affect profits, with more than 20% of respondents entering a business, but leaving as quickly as possible if they smell air fresheners or some fragranced product. More than twice as many customers would choose hotels and airplanes without fragranced air than with fragranced air.

In the workplace, over 15% of the population lost workdays or a job due to fragranced product exposure. Over 50% of Americans surveyed would prefer fragrance-free workplaces. And over 50% would prefer that health care facilities and professionals were fragrance-free.

When exposed to fragrance products, 34.7% of Americans suffer adverse health effects, such as breathing difficulties, headaches, dizziness, rashes, congestion, seizures, nausea, and a range of other physical problems. For half of these individuals, effects are potentially disabling, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“This is a huge problem; it’s an epidemic,” says Professor Steinemann.

Professor Steinemann is especially concerned with involuntary exposure to fragranced products, or what she calls “secondhand scents.”

MEDIA RELEASE: Fragranced Products: Risks for People and Profits?

FULL ARTICLE: Fragrance consumer products: exposures and effects from emissions

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“One out of five freight containers arriving in European ports [from Asia] has been fumigated with extremely dangerous, carcinogenic or neurotoxic gases.”

“These toxic gases are left over from the fumigation process, a necessary – sometimes mandatory – operation to kill micro-organisms and pests before transport, in order to prevent the introduction of parasites, bacteria and diseases into the importing country.

“In March 2010, the EU banned the use of methyl bromide, a dangerous pesticide — but many countries, including the U.S., still use it. What’s worse, very few countries actually indicate the presence of toxic gas on their containers, to avoid having to de-gas them.”

“Another more insidious source of toxicity, which puts port workers and consumers at risk, is the vapors emanating from the merchandise itself during transport. Furniture, shoes, clothes made in Asia – mostly Vietnam and China — frequently contain toluene and benzene solvents, which are carcinogen. When this is the case, there are no labels on the shipping container warning port workers to equip themselves against toxic fumes.

“97% of freight containers contained residues of pesticide fumigants and toxic industrial chemicals, mostly 1.2-dichloroethane and methyl bromide, as well as benzene and toluene. About 19% of them had levels exceeding the permitted exposure level. The German researchers told the congress that the fumigants and toxic products “contaminated the transported goods, penetrating into them and settling there.”

These are only a few of the facts reported in the article below. So now we know what some of the chemicals are on imported products and how toxic they are.

WORLDCRUNCH: Toxic Shipping Containers May Be Contaminating Your Food And Clothes

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