“Where have they put us?” the teacher asks indignantly. Nicolas Olea, researcher in charge of the group Granada. In the last 30 years, his studies have been dedicated to pulling an uncomfortable reality out from under the rug. We don't like to see it, but it's there anyway. The tissues that surround us are loaded with toxic chemicals.
Anti-wrinkle shirts, anti-stain school uniforms, antimicrobial baby clothes, anti-odor sports fabrics, fire-retardant sheets, water-repellent fleeces... “All the miraculous qualities of textiles are not achieved with an ejaculation to the Virgin of Carmen. They are not in the structure of the fiber, they are in the additives, which can be highly dangerous“warns Public this expert.
And since they are added, that means they can also be removed. This is what happens when we put them in the washer. All those chemicals go through the drains and they evade the filters of the treatment plants—which are not prepared to intercept them.
But they don't only affect those fish that have to live with textile fibers hundreds of kilometers from the house where you just got new polyester pajamas. They are also absorbed by the human body.
Even in the placenta and breast milk
It happens with formaldehyde, which is great for keeping clothes from wrinkled. According to research by the Toxicology and Environmental Health Laboratory of the Rovira i Virgili University, it may be cause of dermatitis allergic contact. And that's not the worst. When we sweat, these compounds can dissolve and penetrate the skin. From there to blood and beyond.
A study has found elevated concentrations of toxic chemicals in human placentas
They are everywhere, including baby and maternity clothes. Perhaps that is why high concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls and PFAS—perfluoroalkylated substances—have been found in placenta humans, in two studies published last month in Environmental Research and in Reproduction Toxicology. It is stored in fatty tissues and does not move from there.
Pollutants in cells
Many of them are considered eternal pollutants, because they are neither degraded nor eliminated with urine. Among them, the fearsome PFAS—excellent anti-stains—on which more and more toxicological studies are beginning to come to light.
One of them, with the participation of Olea and other researchers, such as the director of the National Center for Environmental Health of the Carlos III Health Institute, Argelia Castaño, analyzes its impact on the adolescent health. PFAS (perfluocarbon) interfere with the functioning of the thyroid gland, producer of an essential hormone to regulate growth and metabolism.
Some fabrics contain antimony, a heavy metal classified as a probable carcinogen.
And our clothes have everything. Even heavy metals, such as antimony —listed as probable carcinogenic by the Agency for Cancer Research and used in polyester fabrics—which, by the way, has been found in breast milk. This is demonstrated by a study led in 2023 by the doctor in Environmental Sciences and researcher at the University of Granada Carmen Freire.
There are even compounds, such as Acid Black 10 dye, used in prints and leather, which is harmful to cells at the genetic level: it attacks the DNA, as demonstrated by a work Brazilian collected in the scientific journal Chemosphere.
What can we expect from petroleum derivatives?
Knowing what composition is in the clothes you just bought is not easy at all. Labels are only required to show what fiber it is made of, but not what additives it contains. Something can be 100% cotton and still be packed with PFAS or flame retardants, both related to cancer and alteration of the hormonal and neurological systems, among others, as reported by a study from the Rovira i Virgili University.
“Cotton will always be a better starting point than fibers derived from plastic-petroleum”
In any case, Olea points out that “cotton will always be a better starting point than the fibers derived from plastic-petroleum”, from which that comfortable and warm fleece that you are wearing is made.
"All the synthetic clothing comes from oil: polyethylene, polyamine, nylon, polypropylene... These, in turn, are loaded with additives.
As an example, the California Center for Environmental Health He has detected high levels—19 times the California safety limit—of bisphenol A (BPA) in polyester spandex socks and sports bras brands like Nike, Champion, New Balance and Fruit of the Loom.
The same goes for children's clothing from brands such as Shein o AliExpress, analyzed in another investigation: it was overloaded with PFAS, lead and phthalates.
What can we do?
In Europe, the EU strategy for sustainability on chemicals underlines “the need to gradually phase out PFAS, limiting them to those uses that are considered essential for society,” the document explains. The chemicals that surround us, published last year by Miteco. Some have already been banned, but many more remain. About 4.700 different types of PFAS, to be exact.
Meanwhile, Olea recommends buying natural fabrics, natural colors, wash clothes before use and vacuum. “In the XNUMXst century house you can no longer sweep, because that raises microfibers that are deposited in household dust, inhalable and highly toxic, such as rayon, polyethylene and polyamide,” he warns.
But, the most important thing is none of that. “As citizens, we have a duty to demand that action be taken,” he says. Are we going to let our children grow up and suffer in a world where even their pajamas are made of toxic plastic?
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