Growing Cotton With the help Of Toxic Chemicals- Not an Eco Friendly Situation
The problem starts with industrialized farms mass producing a few varieties of cotton(though hundreds exist). Variety is important because each variety has its own weakness and if only one kind is grown and disease strikes or pests invade, the whole crop is lost. Farmers attempt to prevent such a loss by heavily treating crops with dangerous, cancer causing chemicals in an effort to keep pests and disease at bay. the resulting product is cotton saturated with pesticides, herbicide, fungicides, and the like. to illustrate just how heavily treated cotton crops are, consider this: Cotton crops take up only 2.4% of the world’s agricultural acreage, but use 25% of the world’s pesticides. This cotton eventually becomes clothes, blankets, and household items. And the cotton oil is often used in potato chips,crackers, and other processed foods. Raw cotton seed is often fed to livestock, affecting people indirectly who eat meat and dairy products. then, there is the issue of direct pollution to the environment, especially since many of these chemicals are sprayed on the crops aerially. Also, farm workers (sometimes women and even children) often have health problems, as they are exposed to these chemicals excessively.
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