Clothes to dye/ die for

 

Fast fashion is bad for the environment. As it turns out, it is not a good story for our health either. On 27 February 2024, the Guardian printed an article about research in the US on human placentas. In all 62 placentas that were analysed, scientists found microplastics. Microplastics have also been discovered in human breast milk and blood. Other research focuses of what microplastics do to the human body and that brings more bad news. There may be a link with many health conditions that have seen a steep rise in the last decades, such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease and decreasing sperm counts. More research will be needed to determine how dangerous microplastics in our bodies are.

In last month's article I mentioned that wearing and washing polyester clothing is an important source of these microplastics. However, there are other ways in which the clothes we wear can do harm. And it is not really a new phenomenon either.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the colour green was hugely fashionable. It was a difficult colour to produce and even more difficult to keep bright in the sun light and through cleaning. The Swedish chemist Carl Sheele developed a dye that kept the green bright and deep.  The secret: arsenic. It was a great success, and fashionable ladies clad themselves in these toxic garments. The results were catastrophic: sores and ulcers would appear on their body; hair would fall out and in extreme cases internal organs would shut down. The (mostly) women who worked with the fabrics such as seamstresses and laundry maids were even worse affected. The toxic effects of arsenic were well known even then. In 1862 the British Medical Journal quipped: “(she) carries in her skirts poison enough to slay the whole of the admirers she may meet with in half a dozen ball-rooms.” This fashion fad was certainly ‘to die for’.

Have we learned from this? Not enough, I would say. We know that chemical substances can penetrate the skin and get into the bloodstream; such as in the case of arsenic green. Towards the end of 2010 flight attendants at Alaska Airways (later at other airlines too) began to report a slew of health problems: rashes, sores, vomiting, hair loss and migraines. The problems, according to the flight attendants, began after they were issued with new uniforms. The new uniforms were made of wrinkle-resistant polyester. Oil-based textiles (polyester, acrylic, nylon) don’t hold on to dye as well as natural fabrics and have to be dyed with ‘disperse’ dyes. Disperse dyes, combined with the chemicals used to make the uniforms stain-and wrinkle repellent may well leech into the bloodstream. These uniforms are worn for long hours on end; it may be that all these chemicals combined create a toxic reaction.

Again, more research is needed. But in the meantime, I will not knit baby clothes with acrylic yarns. Give me wool anytime!