* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Friday, May 30, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Allied Gaming & Entertainment Receives Expected Nasdaq Notice Regarding Delayed Quarterly Report – Business Wire

    Allied Gaming & Entertainment Faces Nasdaq Notice Over Delayed Quarterly Report

    Weekly Entertainment Report May 29-June 1: Where to find lively arts, music, and shows – Manchester Ink Link

    Weekly Entertainment Report May 29-June 1: Where to find lively arts, music, and shows – Manchester Ink Link

    Aziz Ansari made Keanu Reeves Indian food so he wouldn’t feel ‘freaked out’ directing him in Good Fortune (exclusive) – Entertainment Weekly

    Aziz Ansari Whips Up Indian Cuisine for Keanu Reeves to Ease Directing Jitters in Good Fortune

    Cassie Ventura welcomes third child – crossroadstoday.com

    Cassie Ventura Joyfully Welcomes Her Third Child!

    Drew Brees opens Surge Entertainment Center in Metairie hot spot for new businesses – NOLA.com

    Drew Brees Unveils Exciting New Surge Entertainment Center in Metairie!

    Will Gio Stay Or Go On May 27 General Hospital? – Yahoo

    Will Gio Make a Shocking Exit on May 27th’s General Hospital

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    4Liberty Announces Collaboration with Itron to Drive Innovation in Utility Technology Adoption and Optimization – FinancialContent

    4Liberty Partners with Itron to Revolutionize Utility Technology and Boost Innovation

    Q1 2025 Quantum Technology Investment: What’s Driving the Surge in Quantum Investment? – The Quantum Insider

    Unleashing the Future: Exploring the Surge in Quantum Technology Investments for Q1 2025

    MIT Team Releases Tempting Report on Electric Aircraft Technology – AVweb

    MIT Team Releases Tempting Report on Electric Aircraft Technology – AVweb

    MSE, DXC Technology expand tech partnership – Sports Business Journal

    MSE, DXC Technology expand tech partnership – Sports Business Journal

    Technology Driving Performance: How Elite MA Plans Leverage Data, Care Coordination, and Advanced Analytics to Thrive Amid CMS’s Rigorous 2025 Standards, Black Book – Newswire.com

    Unlocking Success: How Top MA Plans Harness Data and Analytics to Excel Under CMS’s 2025 Standards

    Arqit acquires Ampliphae’s technology IP, enhancing its global encryption portfolio – GlobeNewswire

    Arqit Boosts Global Encryption Portfolio with Strategic Acquisition of Ampliphae’s Technology IP

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Allied Gaming & Entertainment Receives Expected Nasdaq Notice Regarding Delayed Quarterly Report – Business Wire

    Allied Gaming & Entertainment Faces Nasdaq Notice Over Delayed Quarterly Report

    Weekly Entertainment Report May 29-June 1: Where to find lively arts, music, and shows – Manchester Ink Link

    Weekly Entertainment Report May 29-June 1: Where to find lively arts, music, and shows – Manchester Ink Link

    Aziz Ansari made Keanu Reeves Indian food so he wouldn’t feel ‘freaked out’ directing him in Good Fortune (exclusive) – Entertainment Weekly

    Aziz Ansari Whips Up Indian Cuisine for Keanu Reeves to Ease Directing Jitters in Good Fortune

    Cassie Ventura welcomes third child – crossroadstoday.com

    Cassie Ventura Joyfully Welcomes Her Third Child!

    Drew Brees opens Surge Entertainment Center in Metairie hot spot for new businesses – NOLA.com

    Drew Brees Unveils Exciting New Surge Entertainment Center in Metairie!

    Will Gio Stay Or Go On May 27 General Hospital? – Yahoo

    Will Gio Make a Shocking Exit on May 27th’s General Hospital

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    4Liberty Announces Collaboration with Itron to Drive Innovation in Utility Technology Adoption and Optimization – FinancialContent

    4Liberty Partners with Itron to Revolutionize Utility Technology and Boost Innovation

    Q1 2025 Quantum Technology Investment: What’s Driving the Surge in Quantum Investment? – The Quantum Insider

    Unleashing the Future: Exploring the Surge in Quantum Technology Investments for Q1 2025

    MIT Team Releases Tempting Report on Electric Aircraft Technology – AVweb

    MIT Team Releases Tempting Report on Electric Aircraft Technology – AVweb

    MSE, DXC Technology expand tech partnership – Sports Business Journal

    MSE, DXC Technology expand tech partnership – Sports Business Journal

    Technology Driving Performance: How Elite MA Plans Leverage Data, Care Coordination, and Advanced Analytics to Thrive Amid CMS’s Rigorous 2025 Standards, Black Book – Newswire.com

    Unlocking Success: How Top MA Plans Harness Data and Analytics to Excel Under CMS’s 2025 Standards

    Arqit acquires Ampliphae’s technology IP, enhancing its global encryption portfolio – GlobeNewswire

    Arqit Boosts Global Encryption Portfolio with Strategic Acquisition of Ampliphae’s Technology IP

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

Fast fashion might be making us sick

July 1, 2023
in Science
Fast fashion might be making us sick
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

This article was originally featured on Nexus Media News.

On a recent spring afternoon, journalist Alden Wicker was examining a neon orange purse at H&M. The price tag read $14.99, but instead of listing materials, it simply said “vegan.” She raised an eyebrow. At Wicker’s request, a store clerk looked up the materials: polyurethane and polyester. Plastics.

For the last decade, Wicker has been covering the dirty side of fast fashion—from its contribution to the climate crisis and greenwashing to multi-level marketing schemes. She founded the popular blog EcoCult in 2013 and has become an authority on sustainable fashion.

Wicker’s new book, To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick, examines the public health impacts of chemically-treated fabrics and synthetic fibers. She spent two years interviewing.

She found that fashion is rife with toxic chemicals, like formaldehyde and chromium, which are both carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting polyfluoroalkyl substances (also known as PFAS, or “forever chemicals”), linked to infertility and other health issues. And despite the potential harm, she discovered that the U.S. has done little to protect consumers from the clothes they wear.

“We’re allowing chemicals to be poured indiscriminately into the environment, but we’re also bringing them into our homes,” Wicker said. The effects of these chemicals on textile workers and their communities were well documented, but Wicker worried that the issue remained abstract to U.S. consumers. “This isn’t an ‘over-there’ problem,” she said. 

Wicker got the idea for the book in 2019 when a radio producer called to ask if she could comment on a lawsuit filed by Delta employees against the clothing company Land’s End, alleging that its uniforms were making them sick.

“I’d heard nothing about fashion or textiles being toxic enough to affect people’s health,” she said. In fact, flight attendants at several major airlines were complaining of rashes, hair loss, fatigue, brain fog, heart palpitations and trouble breathing. “Their bodies would start shutting down. They couldn’t work, and in some cases, that completely ruined their lives,” Wicker said. 

Researchers at Harvard University attributed the attendants’ reactions to long exposures to a combination of chemicals like anti-wrinkle and anti-stain resins and disperse dyes, which can leach into the skin through sweat. (Flight attendants sometimes wear their uniforms for up to 24 hours at a time.)

The flight attendants are just an extreme case of clothes making people sick, Wicker said. In the course of her reporting, she dug up suits against the children’s-clothing brand Carter’s and Victoria’s Secret, in which consumers said their clothes gave them severe rashes. It’s exceedingly difficult to prove the toxicity of a piece of clothing because a single shirt may have passed through several factories and can comprise an untold number of chemicals, she said.

“There’s no ingredient list in fashion,” Wicker said. “If you’re allergic to nickel, or disperse dyes, or formaldehyde, you can avoid it in beauty products, cleaning products, food products—but not in fashion.” In the book, she speaks with researchers who connect declining fertility rates and the rise of autoimmune diagnoses in the U.S. with chemicals found in our clothes. 

The book is a series of vignettes about people whose lives were altered by illnesses they believe came from the chemicals in their clothes: The widower of an Alaska Airlines flight attendant who developed a litany of health problems, including trouble breathing and blistering on his arms, right after he received a new uniform. A textile worker in Tirupur, in southern India, whose arms and legs were covered in blisters that only started to disappear after she quit her job. A California marketing executive whose dye allergies had caused her to scratch herself until she bled in her sleep. 

“You can draw a straight line from Leelavathi in India to this woman in California and their skin issues,” Wicker said. “The woman in California has more resources than the garment worker, and they live very different lives, but living in America doesn’t shield you from this.” 

The European Union, and even the state of California, have passed regulations on so-called “forever chemicals” in fashion, and Wicker wants to see the federal government follow suit. (Last week, chemical manufacturer 3M reached a $10 billion settlement over the contamination of many U.S. public drinking water systems with PFAS, some of the same substances found in clothes.)

In the book, she calls for more regulation and research into the chemicals that go into making our clothes, empowering regulators to test and recall toxic items, requiring ingredient lists on fashion products and a crackdown on greenwashing.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we switched to a precautionary principle where, when it comes to chemicals, it’s not innocent until proven guilty?” she mused. “Let’s make sure they’re safe before we use them.”

Wicker is wary of conscious consumerism — even if this book is an appeal for consumer safety. “I don’t want this to become a ‘shop your way out of it’ thing,” she said. She seized on a piece of advice from one of her interviewees, a researcher at Duke University who found high concentrations of potentially carcinogenic, synthetic Azo dyes in children’s clothing. 

“I asked how she changed her shopping habits. She said: ‘Just shop less’.”

Nexus Media News is an editorially independent, nonprofit news service covering climate change. Follow us @NexusMediaNews.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Popular Science – https://www.popsci.com/environment/fast-fashion-sick/

Tags: fashionMakingscience
Previous Post

Weekend Read: Waiting is not an option

Next Post

Peek inside the lab working on quantum memories

Yankees have a busload of momentum heading into World Series rematch against Dodgers – AP News

Yankees have a busload of momentum heading into World Series rematch against Dodgers – AP News

May 30, 2025
Economists blame Trump tariffs, AI explosion for threatening global economy – theregister.com

How Trump’s Tariffs and the AI Boom Are Shaking Up the Global Economy

May 30, 2025
Allied Gaming & Entertainment Receives Expected Nasdaq Notice Regarding Delayed Quarterly Report – Business Wire

Allied Gaming & Entertainment Faces Nasdaq Notice Over Delayed Quarterly Report

May 30, 2025
UMC Health System, Texas Tech HSC to honor endowed chairs, professors – Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Celebrating Excellence: UMC Health System and Texas Tech HSC Honor Distinguished Professors and Endowed Chairs

May 30, 2025
Paris on Politics: Israel-Gaza conflict gets personal in Chicago’s City Council – FOX 32 Chicago

Paris on Politics: Israel-Gaza conflict gets personal in Chicago’s City Council – FOX 32 Chicago

May 30, 2025
Anduril and Meta Team Up to Transform XR for the American Military – Anduril

Revolutionizing Military Training: Anduril and Meta Join Forces to Enhance XR Technology

May 30, 2025
Tennessee Sports Wagering Council cracks down on illegal sportsbooks – WKRN News 2

Tennessee Sports Wagering Council cracks down on illegal sportsbooks – WKRN News 2

May 29, 2025
Geographic redistributions are insufficient to mitigate exposure to climate change in North American birds – Nature

Why Geographic Shifts Alone Won’t Save North American Birds from Climate Change

May 29, 2025
News: NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme launches new call for research proposals , 23-May.-2025 – NATO – Homepage

News: NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme launches new call for research proposals , 23-May.-2025 – NATO – Homepage

May 29, 2025
Trump’s Executive Order Puts Science Under the Thumb of Politics – The Equation – Union of Concerned Scientists

Trump’s Executive Order: A New Era of Political Control Over Science

May 29, 2025

Categories

Archives

May 2025
MTWTFSS
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031 
« Apr    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (650)
  • Economy (664)
  • Entertainment (21,571)
  • General (15,248)
  • Health (9,706)
  • Lifestyle (665)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (665)
  • Politics (672)
  • Science (15,885)
  • Sports (21,170)
  • Technology (15,651)
  • World (652)

Recent News

Yankees have a busload of momentum heading into World Series rematch against Dodgers – AP News

Yankees have a busload of momentum heading into World Series rematch against Dodgers – AP News

May 30, 2025
Economists blame Trump tariffs, AI explosion for threatening global economy – theregister.com

How Trump’s Tariffs and the AI Boom Are Shaking Up the Global Economy

May 30, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version