Are these not one of the cutest things you’ve seen?  If you’re in need of a unique and adorable baby shower gift…this IS it (or you can at least add this to your gift to make the package complete)!  Or what a great idea if you’re already stocking up on stocking stuffers.  These non-slip Mary Jane and High Top socks from Baberoo are made of 80% organic cotton and come in a pack of four for the little one in your life (0-12 months). 

 Why Organic Cotton?  Here are a handful of reasons (via Wikipedia):

•  Cotton uses approximately 25% of the world’s insecticides and more than 10% of the pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants.). (Allan Woodburn)
• Approximately 10% of all pesticides sold for use in U. S. agriculture were applied to cotton in 1997, the most recent year for which such data is publicly available. (ACPA)
• Fifty-five million pounds of pesticides were sprayed on the 12,800,000 acres (52,000 km²) of conventional cotton grown in the U.S. in 2003 (4.3 pounds/ acre), ranking cotton third behind corn and soybeans in total amount of pesticides sprayed. (USDA)
• Over 2.03 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers were applied to conventional cotton in 2000 (142 pounds/acre), making cotton the fourth most heavily fertilized crop behind corn, winter wheat, and soybeans. (USDA)
• The Environmental Protection Agency considers seven of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton in 2000 in the United States as “possible,” “likely,” “probable,” or “known” human carcinogens (acephate, dichloropropene, diuron, fluometuron, pendimethalin, tribufos, and trifluralin). (EPA)
• In 1999, a work crew re-entered a cotton field about five hours after it was treated with tribufos and sodium chlorate (re-entry should have been prohibited for 24 hours). Seven workers subsequently sought medical treatment and five have had ongoing health problems. (California DPR)
• Conventional cotton uses more chemicals per unit area than any other crop and accounts for 16% of the world’s pesticides. 
• Chemicals used to process conventional cotton polute the air and land. 
• Organic Cotton uses untreated seeds.
• Organic Cotton never uses genetically-modified seeds.

Posted on October 8th, 2008 by Stancie Wilson