We love the feel of cotton on skin – but cotton is one of the most chemical-intensive crops in the world. Learn more suprising facts about this common cloth…
Cotton is one of the most chemical-intensive crops in the world. It covers 2.5% of the world’s cultivated land yet uses 16% of the world’s insecticides
Photo from www.flickr.com/photos/rwklose/ / CC BY 2.0
- Cotton is one of the most chemical-intensive crops in the world. It covers 2.5% of the world’s cultivated land yet uses 16% of the world’s insecticides.
- Seven common pesticides used in cotton cultivation are recognised carcinogens. WHO estimates that one million people are poisoned and 22,000 die each year as a result of sprays used on non-organic cotton.
- It takes about 100 grams of chemicals to produce enough cotton to make one t-shirt.
- Worldwide production of organic cotton is growing at a rate of more than 50 percent per year.
- Cotton production involves about 100 million households in 70 countries.
- The conventional cotton industry relies on forced child labour. As many as one million children work in Egyptian cotton fields. In Andhra Pradesh, India, over 100,000 children work 13 hours a day for less than $1.
- The world price of cotton has been declining for several decades. Huge US and EU farm subsidies encourage overproduction, lower prices and undercut millions of poor farmers around the world.
- The WTO has ruled that US cotton subsidies harm Brazilian cotton farmers. The US now faces annual trade sanctions of about US$295 million.
- Eliminating US cotton subsidies would increase the income of West African farmers by 5–12%, enough to cover the healthcare and schooling costs of up to ten people for a year, or feed two children for a year.
- Buying fair trade cotton helps farmers cover the costs of sustainable production, and allows investment in schools, roads and healthcare facilities.
