Toxic products in our Clothing !

Toxic products used in agriculture were already pointed at in previous articles. Here are the toxic products in our clothing and accessories.

It all begins in Europe, where the chemical industry produces a variety of toxic chemicals that are more or less harmful to humans and the environment, and then exports them to low-cost countries. These products will be used to make jeans, T-shirts, underwear, shoes, toys … which we will find in our shops then in our homes.

Incidentally, toxic products handled without protection in countries such as India or Bangladesh have poisoned the workers and their families. And a lot of well known major brands are not exempt…

Dimethylfumarate

chemicals used in textile industryIn the radius of the poisons commonly used, there is first dimethyl fumarate, which one finds in the small sachets put in the boxes of shoes for example. It is present at room temperature in the form of almost odorless white crystals and has antifungal (anti-mold) properties, ie it destroys and avoids the development of fungi.

It is mainly used to promote the preservation of seeds, textiles, leather goods and furniture, mainly during storage and transport operations.

In theory, the use of dimethyl fumarate for antifungal purposes is forbidden in Europe, within the framework of Directive 98/8 / EC, commonly known as the “biocides” directive. But the fact is that this product continues to be used in most items made in Asia such as shoes, sofas, chairs, leather goods …

The checks carried out on these goods are rather scarce and, above all, they serve little purpose, since there is no obligation to withdraw the products complained of or sanctions for the undertaking importing them. In France, it is thus several hundred cases of irritation, sometimes very important, following exposure to the DMFu which are listed each year.

Leather tanning

For some time now, China has been unable to satisfy the global demand for leather. So Bangladesh has become one of the most important exporters of leather. Cowhide leather is abundantly available, and labor is the cheapest in the world.

Most importantly, environmental protection and worker regulations are virtually non-existent.

While European tanneries, which are governed by strict Community regulations, bear high costs for the treatment of their waste and for the protection of their workers. So many good reasons, for Western brands, to go and get cheap leather in such a country.

The textile industry

Besides leather, textile is also a highly consuming sector of potentially hazardous chemicals. In the H & M central warehouse in the Port of Hamburg, 60% of employees complain of pains that can result from poisoning related to the products they handle.

Or the employee of the Esprit brand, whose job it was to iron the jeans just out of the containers, which today suffers from serious respiratory problems, probably linked to dichloromethane (one of the most irritating solvents that is), present In these jeans made in Asia.

Last small precision, do not look for the products used in their manufacture on your shoes, T-shirts or underwear Made in India, China or Bangladesh, nobody dared to do it! Chantelle prefers to put “Designed in Europe” on these black bras, gorged precisely of toxic products! It’s so much more chic.