Question from RN
I only dress my baby in 100% cotton clothing, and can’t afford organic cotton. I’ve read on your website that cotton clothing can be considered as safe as organic clothing as far as pesticides go. However, I’m concerned about this year’s news that children’s clothing imported from China had many times the safe levels of formaldehyde. Can I assume that the formaldehyde was used on non-cotton clothing or poly/cotton blends only, and that all 100% cotton clothes are safe?
Thank you. I love your site!
Debra’s Answer
As far as I can determine, anything coming from China could be a wild card in terms of what is in it, unless you can contact the manufacturer and find out how careful they are about manufacturing. I think I should say that there seem to be wild variables about what you might get from China, but don’t assume everything from China is bad.
Regarding formaldehyde, the standard practice is that formaldehyde is used on cotton if it is permanent press, and on all polyester/cotton woven fabrics. They may add formaldehyde on 100% cotton for some reason unbeknownst to me, but if it is not a permanent press resin finish, it should wash right out as it is very volatile.
I read an article on this at WorldNetDaily: Poison PJs from China, but it didn’t mention if the garments were permanent press or not. It sounded like garments labeled “100% cotton” were found to be contaminated.
I would be wary of products from China unless you can contact the manufacturer and find out about their safety. I don’t want to make assumptions about all products manufactured in China based on bad practices of a few.
