ORGANIC VS INORGANIC/CONVENTIONAL COTTON
Conventional agriculture is heavily dependent upon the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers and is increasingly of the genetically modified (GMO) variety. Conventional agricultural methods are troublesome in the negative environmental, health and societal impacts they impose.
Conventionally grown cotton is no different. Indeed, conventionally grown cotton is a notoriously thirsty crop and it uses a staggering 16% of the world’s insecticide and 10% of its pesticide whilst accounting for less than 3% of global cropland. Additionally, about 70% of the world’s cotton is now genetically modified.
The conventional, industrial system of agriculture that predominates is one that poisons and pollutes and is one that is not, ultimately, in the best interests of agricultural workers, communities, consumers and the environment at large. The problem is compounded in the developing world (where the vast majority of cotton is produced) where there exist low levels of safety awareness, lack of access to protective equipment, illiteracy, poor labelling of pesticides and a lack of resources for or access to the medical attention required for the treating poisoning.
Conventional pesticides pose multiple threats to the environment and can pollute soils, air, water systems, and the food chain.
The insidious nature of run-off and contamination means that the effects are not localized and confined but rather spread and residues end up in drinking water, food items consumed by livestock and humans and down the food chain (such as in cow’s milk and hens eggs). In fact, hazardous pesticides applied to cotton during production are detectable in the clothing manufactured from it as well as rainwater from areas where it is used.
Uzebekistan Cotton – A Tale of Agrochemical Overuse and Water Mismanagement
Cotton growing in the Aral Sea area of Uzbekistan has been associated with a grave ecological disaster - the evaporation of a large portion of the Aral Sea. Over decades, as a consequence of the diversion of water from river systems for the irrigation of cotton crops, more than half of the Aral Sea basin has become a dry, salt-encrusted wasteland. Extensive wildlife habitat has been destroyed, and species extinctions and desertification have been the ecological result.
The problem has been compounded by the decades-long, intensive use of cotton crop fertilizers and pesticides that have polluted the land and water systems. Human health has been severely affected by the resultant soil, water and air pollution. The latter a problem that arises secondary to dust storms that generate a toxic atmosphere linked to respiratory illnesses and certain cancers.
The human and environmental tragedy that Uzbekistan has witnessed serves as a tale of warning over the trail of destruction and suffering that the wonton use and abuse of toxic agrochemicals leaves behind.
THE ORGANIC ALTERNATIVE
There are a number of benefits to organic versus conventional cotton farming. Firstly, it improves the health and saves the lives of cotton farmers and their families by eliminating the health risks posed by chemical pesticide exposure. Additionally, it reduces the burdensome debt imposed by the heavy costs of pesticides and it results in enhanced land and soil integrity. Lastly, organic cotton is: free from genetically modified material; grown without the use of harmful agrochemical (pesticides, insecticides, or synthetic fertilizer); and is usually rain-fed rather than irrigated. Although demand is rising, currently, organic cotton production represents less than 1% of global total. Crops cannot be grown without pest management initiatives to maximize harvest. Hazardous, industrial agro-chemicals, however, have a long history of wreaking short-term and long-term havoc to growers, the community and the environment. It bears being made aware that until the 1940’s, cotton was largely grown free of the use of chemical pesticides. Dependence on agro-chemicals may be good for the bottom-line of their multinational manufacturers, the same cannot be said for the lives poisoned by them, for the environmental damage that is wrought and the cost it imposes on affected communities. Moreover, there is much to be gained by the practice of eco-agricultural methods that cultivate an ‘ecosystems thinking’ in their approach to agriculture. Practices whose outlook is the greater habitat – not just the local flora and fauna, but also downstream effects that impact on water systems and species more distantly (geographically and temporally) removed.
Big multinationals pursue profit – this is a given. However, their concern for profit often comes at the expense of the environment, at the health of their workers and the communities they operate in and stops well short of taking responsibility for the harm that their activities pose. This recurring theme - in which short term profit subsumes the long-term well-being of workers and environment – must be halted and reversed.
Consumer awareness and concern over the origins and ethical standards employed in the production of fashion is a necessary first step. The next logical step is the support of businesses that share this same concern and that are, as such, actively involved in remedying the situation.
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