Big name brands contribute to pollution

(March 21, 2012) Environmental activists in the Philippines said on Wednesday that chemical residues in clothing sold by big name brands are washed into public waterways and contribute to pollution. Members of Greenpeace held a rally near a river in Metro Manila, where they launched a report entitled “Dirty Laundry: Reloaded.” The report supports their claim that the chemicals in the clothing enter the rivers, lakes and seas and then breaks down into even more toxic and hormone-disrupting substances.
The Greenpeace study measured the amount of hazardous nonylphenol ethoxylates washed out during simulated standard domestic laundering conditions of 14 items. The results showed that consumer brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Ralph Lauren, and Calvin Klein, are unknowingly polluting the public water supplies in regions and countries around the world, including those, where there are restrictions or bans on the use of these chemicals,” said Beau Baconguis, Greenpeace Southeast Asia’s toxics campaigner. She said while other countries try to improve measures protecting their citizens from hazardous chemicals, the Philippines is steps behind in terms of regulations on hazardous chemicals. Greenpeace challenged global clothing and footwear brands to eliminate all releases of hazardous chemicals from their supply chains and products by 2020.