Why Organic Cotton.
- Conventional cotton farming is one of agriculture's most environmentally destructive activities, taking an enormous toll on the air, water, and soil, as well as people living around pesticide laden cotton fields.
- Conventional Cotton uses approximately 25 percent of the world's insecticides and more than 10 percent of the pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants.).
- In the U.S. in 2000, 84 million pounds of pesticides were sprayed on the 14.4 million acres of conventional cotton grown in the country, ranking cotton second behind corn in total amount of pesticides sprayed.
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled in 2000 that seven of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton in the United States as "possible," "likely," "probable," or "known" human carcinogens.
by Tiffany Parks on February 19, 2011
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