Did you know that cotton is one of the most heavily pesticide-sprayed crops?

In the United States alone, approximately 600 thousand tons of pesticides and chemical fertilizers are applied to cotton fields each season. To bring this fragile plant to harvest, it is heavily sprayed 30 to 40 times a season, in extreme cases, with pesticides so poisonous they gradually render fields barren.

Insects are quickly becoming resistant and rates of pesticide application are ever increasing.

Less than 25% of a pesticide sprayed from a crop duster ever hits the crop. The remainder can drift for several miles landing on on nearby foliage, homes, towns, into the soil, into the water, and all forms of wildlife, including ourselves.

Five of the top nine pesticides used on cotton in the U.S. are KNOWN cancer-causing chemicals. All nine are classified by the U.S. EPA as Category I and II— the most dangerous chemicals.

The most acutely toxic pesticide registered by the E.P.A. is aldicarb which is frequently used on cotton.

In California, it has become illegal to feed the leaves, stems, and short fibers of cotton known as "gin trash" to livestock, because of the concentrated levels of pesticide residue.

Instead, this gin trash is used to make furniture, mattresses, tampons, swabs, and cotton balls. The average American woman will use 11,000 tampons or sanitary pads during her lifetime. The cottonseed oil that is left over, goes into cookies and processed food products.

For more information:
http://www.panna.org/
Pesticide Action Network

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