Is The Tee You Wear Also In Your Food?

In the late 19th century labourers cut their jumpsuits in half to keep cool and so began the T-shirt.

Image created by author/canva

The printing T-shirt market is forecasted to reach a value of 3.1 billion U.S. dollars by 2025. They have certainly come a long way from the simple tees of yesteryear.

I happen to walk through the lounge one night with torch in hand, yes, I was about to go out on snail patrol, and on the T.V. was a documentary about the journey of cotton from grower to T-shirt. Now I’m not about to give you a lesson in cotton-growing so I’ll cut to the chase. What made me stop in my tracks and stand watching the screen (torch still in hand) was the amount of chemicals used. But wait there’s more. Cotton is used in our food! I did already know this; however, I didn’t realise the extent.

Non-organic cotton.

Growers (obviously not organic growers) put chemicals onto their crops at every stage, and I mean EVERY step. Before, during and at the end. It’s true. They even spray to defoliate the plants for easier harvesting.

The growing of cotton is nothing new as we have been cultivating it for over 5,000 years. Halfway through the 20th century the farming methods moved away from horse ploughing and handpicking to the…