Why is Polyester toxic?

Nearly everything you have ever purchased, still exists on this earth in some form or fashion. I'm not going to say never buy polyester again, because in this world, it would be difficult to completely eliminate polyester from your lifestyle. Minimization and Mindfulness are the key words in this scenario.

If you care about your health or the world you around you, even in the slightest, I really really want you to take a few minutes out of your day to read this. Maybe even open the studies and do a little extra research for yourself! To make it a little more easy to read, I am going to list bullet points below of the negatives and positives of polyester fabric, along with a variety of study links from different sources.

Negatives:

* Petroleum/Crude Oil that is converted into clothing fabric, known as polyester.

* The process of producing polyester creates an abundance of pollution in the air, waterways and throughout the land in the soil. This affects the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink, bathe in, etc.

* Washing polyester, especially newly made, will contaminate all of the rest of your clothing.

* Can cause rashes, as the fabric is full of toxins like phthalates and is unbreathable.

* Not only the production, but just the existence of polyester is a major pollutant of microplastics, CO2 and toxins like heavy metals and other chemicals.

* Synthetic textiles like polyester are one of the largest cause of microfiber/microplastic pollution in the world.

* Studies have shown that polyester can cause infertility, endocrine disruption and other health issues due to phthalates and other chemicals that embody the fabric.

Positives:

* Cheap for consumer & Profitable for the producer.

* "Durable" (Literally lasts forever. This is actually NOT a good thing).

Luckily for us... recycled polyester exists from sustainable fashion brands, and thrifting is so much fun! It is great to give old clothes a new home, not in a landfill! Not only are you helping out the environment, but you can't tell me thrift shopping with a nice cup of coffee or tea doesn't boost your mental health

It is important to remember that minimization and mindfulness are your friends! Leaning into an 80/20 lifestyle, focusing on supporting second hand stores and sharing hand-me-downs with your peers, will all help reduce waste, promote better health, and we can hope eventually, will noticeably lower pollution.

If you didn't care about polyester and fast fashion before, I hope this can open your mind to the subject!

Sources:

Fertility in men (this is an older and smaller conducted study, but I still feel it's results yield a worthy read): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1623716/

Endocrine disruption: https://littlehedonist.com/.../is-polyester-an-endocrine...

Phthalate Study (Why women should avoid products high in phthalates):

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7351345/

Endocrine disruption: https://www.sciencedirect.com/.../pii/S153204562300100X

General article on polyester toxicity: https://goodmakertales.com/is-polyester-bad-for-you/

Phthalates in food study (think about polyester production and how contamination can occur): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-021-00392-8

Phthalates act as tumor promoting agents: https://www.sciencedirect.com/.../pii/S1607551X12001532

Phthalate exposure in children may cause 20% or more increased risk in cancer exposure:

https://www.ewg.org/.../pervasive-phthalates-new-study...

Polyester article with several study mentions: https://amp.theguardian.com/.../fashion-chemicals-pfas...