Eating Cotton!

As consumers, we don't often think that cotton, the "fabric of our lives," will wind up in the food we eat or the milk we drink. In fact, only 40% of the plant -- the boll -- is used for the fiber, while the remaining 60% goes for seed oil and other byproducts. And that's how cotton enters the food chain. In the U.S. alone, half a million tons of cottonseed oil are used annually as an ingredient in processed foods, such as snack foods and salad dressings. Another three million tons of raw cottonseed are fed to beef and dairy cattle, which, depending on the state, may also consume cotton "gin trash" in their feed. When we eat these animal products, we're eating cotton.

Why should we care? Cotton is the most intensively sprayed field crop in the world, accounting for more than 10% of the pesticides used worldwide and 25% of the pesticides used in the U.S. Yet despite cotton's role in the food chain, chemicals that are banned for use on food crops are used on cotton. The accepted wisdom is that most pesticides break down before harvest, or get removed during processing. But that's not always the case, as residues from pesticides, such as the toxic defoliant tribuphos (DEF), frequently appear on scans of cottonseed and other byproducts. Cottonseed oil, however, is rarely tested for pesticide residues. During a recent round of tests on milk, the U.S. Department of Agriculture did not look for DEF and other toxic cotton pesticides. Finally, cotton is increasingly genetically engineered (GE) -- 61% of the U.S. cotton crop this year. But cotton food products, like all GE foods, are not required to be labeled as such. This is of concern to all consumers who want to eat as naturally as they can.

Here's what you can do:

• Buy certified organic cotton products.
• Support the pesticide-free and GE-free organic cotton industry, which protects land and water, and provides the much-needed organic cottonseed oils used in organic processed foods, dairy and livestock feed.
• See The Green Guide's Product Reports for more information and listings of companies offering organic fiber products.