The Greatest Threat to Life on Planet Earth
 - SYNTHETIC CLOTHING

I recently saw a brief mention of pollution from plastic microfibers (PMFs) in the oceans in a news article, and my curiosity was piqued. I decided to investigate and what I read appalled and alarmed me. Here is my report:
PMFs are now found throughout the US in the water supply (94%). There seems to be some sort of cover up going on about this invisible problem, even though synthetic/plastic microfibers are causing immune system damage and/or weakening the health of all creatures that ingest them. That includes humans but particularly aquatic creatures from water fleas to plankton (which are killed by them) to whales. Synthetic fibers are found in nylon, polyester, fleece, acrylic, rayon and even spandex, etc. all made from by-products of crude oil. The damage is even worse from thick fleece and (unfortunately) from clothing made from recycled plastic. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-new-york-river-dumps-millions-of-fabric-microfibers-into-the-ocean-daily/

In humans, plastics generally disrupt the endocrine system and affect all glands in your body, including those that control your moods. https://www.livescience.com/26496-endocrine-system.html
Even garments that are part synthetic are just as polluting. Only 100 percent natural materials, such as cotton, wool, linen, silk, hemp, cashmere, jute etc. are safe. The unique shape of PMFs causes them to attract dangerous and carcinogenic chemicals that are also in water, such as dioxin, PCBs and pick up bacteria (see end of article); and from the fabrics all the dyes and chemicals that are used and sometimes flame retardants and even waterproofing chemicals (in fabric furniture). In addition, even the production of synthetic fabrics involves the use of large amounts of dangerous chemicals.


A minimum of 190,000 fibers leach from each garment into the drains every time it is washed, depending on the washing method, with the number increasing as the garment ages. Some release 250,000 or more. Only the largest - about 40 percent are filtered out by sewage plants; the rest enter the environment. Even the most sophisticated RO system only catches the larger fibers. 0.6 to 1.7 million TONS A YEAR is one estimate, with the number rising all the time as the garment industry makes less and less clothing from natural sources. https://storyofstuff.org/uncategorized/the-story-of-microfibers-faqs/

A small amount are shed as you move about. The California legislature recently debated a law to label all garments with easily visible warnings and a request that synthetic garments be handwashed, but it did not pass. The garment industry lobbied against it ! It probably wouldn't have helped much, but at least would have made the public aware. Even handwashing won't solve the problem if you use a dryer, as that spews massive numbers into the atmosphere, where the fibers presumably are breathed in. It is now legal in California to use a laundryline and hang your laundry outside to dry, with certain exceptions ! (see Assembly Bill No. 1448). I found no information about lung damage in my research. I have a book, The Secret Life of Dust which was written prior to awareness of this problem. It mentions that all dust spreads across the planet, for instance dust from the Sahara Desert, so this scourge is being spread planetwise through the air. I found no mention of whether they are carried in rain water.
PMFs have been shown to pass the blood/brain barrier, and in fish cause behavioral changes such as slower eating and less exploration of surroundings. https://phys.org/news/2017-09-brain-fish-affected-plastic-nanoparticles.html

PMFs are also ingested in your food, with an estimate of over 100 dropping onto one plateful of food as you eat, in the average home. They are in beer, in sea salt (660 pieces a year) ; in food cooked with water, and in irrigation water where they are absorbed into the soil and may affect plants, including your fruit and vegetables. Sewage sludge from human waste used for fertilizing crops, contains them, as do sludge ponds, and various industrial processes. Most bottled water has about 150 pieces per bottle. Alarmingly they are even in honey. Could this be another reason for the huge decline in the number of bees and recently the documented "alarming decrease" in the number of insects in general ?  Without insects and plankton we will be in danger of starving, not only ourselves but most creatures.

Most PMFs enter the environment from the US, so we are the most responsible for polluting the entire planet. A friend in Pakistan tells me that in his country the poorer people cannot afford to buy natural garments, in spite of the discomfort of synthetic clothing in the heat of summer. Water dispersed from carpet washers is likely teeming with millions of them. Then there are the fibers percolating through the soil from landfills mostly from old clothing and carpet. 5 billion lbs of old carpet are disposed of each year in the US, though a small percentage are made of natural fibers and recently many are recycled. Some sort of hazmat program should be set up if you wish to dispose of your PMF products, to prevent them seeping into the ground water. It is hard to believe that the people who developed synthetic fabrics did not have some idea of the havoc they could cause ?! Similar fibers are in car tires and those also end up in the water and air. In our attempt to solve one problem we create another, since used tires are now recycled in various ways, including tarmac for roads, which wear down , also releasing PMFs into the environment. Plastic takes hundreds of years to degrade so the problem is increasing exponientially. PMFs are also in the intestinal tracts of fish so it's particularly unwise to eat creatures you consume whole, such as mussels, oysters etc. (70 pieces each serving)

(There is still a problem from microbeads which were banned in 2017, during Obama's administration, from "rinse off cosmetics". That law contained a loophole, which corporations have taken full advantage of, to continue use of them in other cosmetics, detergents and sandblasting materials. California and some other states are working to pass new protections.)


Synthetic fibers are much cheaper than natural ones so allow manufacturers more profit. On a recent expedition to buy Christmas gifts I was shocked and depressed to see the piles of synthetic clothing, particularly thick fleece. Are manufacturers trying to get rid of their stockpiles as they are afraid of a ban or consumer backlash ?! The problem was discovered in the early 2000's and in 2011, Mark Browne, a researcher, reached out to apparel makers for help with a study. All declined except women's apparel maker Eileen Fisher, though in early 2015, Patagonia, the developer of many PMFs, commissioned a study from the Bren School of Environmental Science at UC https://www.outsideonline.com/2091876/patagonias-new-study-finds-fleece-jackets-are-serious-pollutant
Manufacturers are researching new chemicals with which to treat fabrics in an attempt to solve the problem, but more chemicals ....? In the meantime more and more clothing with PMFs is being produced and less from natural fibers. I just bought my usual jeans which have always been cotton with a little latex and now see they are part polyester. I will be returning them to the store. Tree trunks are soaked in chemicals like sulphuric acid and zinc to make a new fabric, Tencel, though that does not contain PMFs. Each garment has a content label but the past few years those are not usually in the neck or waistband but concealed in the lower part of the garment, making identification more time consuming. https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/may/13/clothes-companies-microfiber-pollution

Microfibers are an increasing problem as they filter throughout the environment and could eventually threaten the health of most creatures on our beautiful planet. I just read an article about the astronauts in which they said that the only color to be seen from space came from Earth, life on which, in the age of crude oil, we seem to be destroying. Ultimately it will be up to you, the consumer, to make choices that protect the planet, and the sooner the better. You can continue on, or you can avoid these products. More recently it has been found that they are causing reproductive problems in wildlife, such as failure to calve in whales.


(Update January 1, 2019 - Dr. Andrew Weil - bacteria are in the fibers. This could cause problems for those who swim in lakes, rivers, even the ocean, though some bacteria are killed by salt water. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/31-fla-infected-bacteria-salt-water-f8C11379013

Insect "Armageddon" report in guardian.co.uk (not yet connected by them to PMFs) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/18/warning-of-ecological-armageddon-after-dramatic-plunge-in-insect-numbers

wash post Oct 2018 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/are-synthetic-fleece-and-other-types-of-clothing-harming-our-water/2016/10/28/eb35f6ac-752e-11e6-be4f-3f42f2e5a49e_story.html?noredirect=on


(c) Elizabeth Donnell- 2019