Polyester vs. Acrylic: Which is better in blankets?

Deena Jaffee asks via The Green Guide website:

I am having a hard time finding a concise and comprehensive answer regarding the toxicity of polyester versus acrylic. Specifically for blankets I am considering purchasing. Which is the lesser of two evils and what exactly is the difference?

The Green Guide replies:

Thank you, Deena, for posing this question. As you note, both polyester and acrylic have unfortunate consequences for health and the environment:

The basic building block of polyester is petroleum. To make polyester, crude oil is broken down into petrochemicals such as ethylene and xylene, which are then converted with heat and catalysts such as antimony into polyethylene terephthalate - the PET plastic that forms both plastic soda bottles and polyester fibers. As a petroleum-derived product, polyester contributes to the depletion of our non-renewable fossil fuel supply and to our reliance on imported oil. Polyester production, as it requires energy, releases lung-damaging pollutants such as nitrogen and sulfur oxides, particulates, carbon monoxide, and heavy metals into the air, as well as globe-warming carbon dioxide. Furthermore, its manufacture may be hazardous to workers. Infants of female workers exposed to antimony have suffered from higher rates of miscarriage, premature birth, and stunted growth, and breathing antimony has caused lung cancer in some animal studies.

Acrylic, also a fossil-fuel derivative, shares many of these problems, but poses a dire additional threat. Acrylic is made from acrylonitrile, reasonably anticipated to be a carcinogen in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Ninth Report on Carcinogens. Workers who make acrylic fiber therefore deal daily with a probable cancer risk.

In deciding between these two fibers, recycling potential should also be a consideration. While systems to recycle acrylic and products that use recycled acrylic are few and far between, there is a thriving market for recycled PET. Many a US soda bottle becomes textile fiber, winding up in a fleece vest or, perhaps, a blanket like the one you are considering. According to the EPA, demand for recycled PET fibers currently exceeds supply. There is greater potential, therefore, for recycled polyester textile products than there is for acrylic. Indeed, Direct Access International and Eco-Furniture offer blankets made primarily from EcoSpun fleece, made from recycled PET fibers -- as does Green Home, which you can visit by clicking the icon just to the right of this article. (See The Green Guide's Clothing Product Report for more info on recycled PET fleece clothing options.)

It seems, therefore, that polyester edges out acrylic for both health and environmental considerations -- although we send you to our Blankets and Comforters Product Report for the full story on these winter necessities.