“Chemicals forever” in school uniforms could be prohibited under the law proposed | APFA

The volume of microplastics and “chemicals forever” potentially harmful to school uniforms should be limited, experts said, as they urge peers to support two amendments to a crucial bill.

The bill on the well-being of children and schools, which applies mainly to England and Wales and is at the committee stage in the Chamber of Lords, is about to introduce a new regulations on the cost of uniform school articles, as well as the number of uniform brand articles may require that students carry the students.

But the emerging evidence of environmental and human health risks of synthetic fibers and “chemicals forever”, which are used as stains and water resistance agents, have aroused concerns about tissues and chemicals used in their manufacture. PFAs, or per- and polyfluoroalkyle substances, are an umbrella term for a family of thousands of chemicals that deteriorate extremely slowly. Some have been linked to health problems, including high cholesterol, fertility problems, immune system disorders, kidney diseases, congenital malformations, certain cancers and a range of other serious health problems.

“What we do not enter is the cocktail effect, which is the fact that all of us, but in particular our children, are exposed to microplastics and nanoplastics,” said Natalie Bennett, Green Party Peer, who supported the two amendments.

“We are exposed to PFAs, we are exposed to pesticides. And the level of all these things rises all the time. ”

Lady Bennett added: “The effect of” cocktail effect “of the expression comes from river activists who began to focus on the environmental impact of this. But actually [this is] What happens to human bodies.

The 202A amendment to the invoice of children calls for an almost immediate ban on the use of APFs in school uniforms and a requirement for manufacturers to provide a digital passport listing chemicals.

Amendment 202B provides that measures be taken within 12 months on uniforms that could “endanger the health or safety of persons [or] cause unreasonable public health or a risk to environmental health ”, with a specific accent on artificial fibers.

In 2021, synthetic fibers represented 64% of the total production of world fibers for the clothing industry, but clear data on the proportion of school uniforms in polyester, nylon or other synthetic materials are not available.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that most uniforms are made from synthetic materials, however, with alternatives made from natural fibers marketed as exceptions.

There has been a long -standing concern about the impact of synthetic fibers on the environment, those derived from persistent petrochemicals for thousands of years and the loss of billions of plastic microfibers in ecosystems.

But more recent research has shown that these microfibers, defined as synthetic fibers less than 5 mm in length, also infiltrated human bodies, studies having identified them in human blood, sperm, lungs, breast milk, bone marrow, placenta, testicles and brains.

Scientists have found that synthetic fibers do not need to be thrown, or even subjected to the constraint of a washing machine cycle, to start losing microfibers, with clothes loss of 400 fibers per gram of fabric for only 20 minutes of normal wear.

“It is obviously inspired,” said Bennett. “So you know, you run for the bus in your blazer, you probably take large sips of plastics, directly in your lungs and potentially in your blood circulation. And of course, you know, you touch it, then you touch your mouth and you can also ingest it orally.”

The impacts on the health of plastic microfibers remain uncertain, but initial research has suggested that they could increase the risk of various conditions such as oxidative stress or cardiovascular disease.

Bennett added: “My wider framework of this is the planetary borders … One of them is that of new entities, which for my shortcut, it is pesticides, pharmaceutical products and plastics. And we have passed the planetary border for new entities.

“And so this is where it is in a way the whole argument of the cocktail effect, you know, we poison this planet, we are on a poisoned planet and we poison our own body.”

Dr. David Santillo, principal scientist at Greenpeace Research Laboratories, said: “Most parents probably do not know that the uniforms that their children must wear can be treated with a mixture of chemicals forever, something that is almost impossible to say from the label. Although some PFAs are already banned school.

“Action on school uniforms should go hand in hand with a broader ban on the use of all APFs in the textiles of all children, so it is not an exhibition lottery based on what your child carries. Forever, chemicals have no place in daily consumption clothes and must be gradually removed in all essential uses in specialized work clothes. ”

Ruth Chambers, a senior woman from the Green Alliance, said: “Toxic chemicals in school uniforms are another example of the reason why we need stronger chemical laws. Before Brexit, the United Kingdom was part of the world’s reference system for the regulation of chemicals, but our protections have been significantly weakened.

“The government should commit to catching up on EU standards in its legally restrictive environmental improvement plan, and it should strive to fully prohibit the use of these harmful chemicals to protect people and nature.”