Having new clothes is akin to having new skin! It is always good to have them clean and fresh! It is always a guarantee that most of us who get new apparel will have it washed first before wearing it. A new study however reveals that even when washed, the chemicals clothes have when they were manufactured leave remnants of harmful toxins that are still embedded in the clothes.
The study conducted a thesis where 60 Swedish and International clothing chains were tested and researchers were able to analyze and discover thousands of chemicals in the clothes and around a hundred chemicals were identified. These chemicals and some of the identified substances were not in the list during production of the clothes. The chemicals are believed to be by-products and residues that were acquired by the clothing through transport.
When the skin is exposed to the these identified chemicals, is very harmful and may increase the risk of allergic dermatitis and may severely affect humans and induce other forms of allergies. The release of these chemical to the environment may actually be very harmful as well. According to Stockholm University's Giovanna Luongo, the chemicals
found are proven to be carcinogens and are toxic to aquatic life.
Four groups of substances were chosen for further analysis. These substances and their effect on the skin may vary according to the occurrence, toxicity, quantity and how the skin easily absorbs them.
Depending on occurrence, quantity, toxicity and how easily they may penetrate the skin, four groups of substances were chosen for further analysis. Polyester had the highest concentrations of quinolines and aromatic amines. High concentrations of benzothiazoles were found in cotton even the organic ones.
The clothes were washed by the researchers and afterwards measure the chemical content of the washed clothes. Even when some of the harmful chemicals were indeed washed off, there is a possibility that it it will end up in the water environment. Other chemicals found remained in high quantities in the washed clothes and can attribute to long term exposure to the skin. It is still undetermined as to how dangerous the effects of the chemicals in the clothes are in a long period of time.
According to Conny Ostman, "We have only scratched the surface; this is something that has to be dealt with. Clothes are worn day and night during our entire life. We must find out if textile chemicals go into our skin and what it means to our health. It is very difficult to assess and requires considerably more research"
