by Jane Wilson

The fibers used to make sheets and blankets can be laden with chemicals that pose environmental and health concerns.

Chlorine is applied to many types of fabric immediately after they're woven to give consistent color. Because chlorine will not stop breaking down fabric once it's been applied, more chemicals are then added to neutralize its effects. (These chemicals can't completely stop the degradation, which is why untreated fabric or whites processed with a natural oxygen bleaching process are likely to last longer.) Chemicals are also used to dye fabric, and formaldehyde, a suspected carcinogen, is often used for shrinkage control.

If you're not sure you want all those chemicals in bed with you, just turning to sheets and comforters made from natural fibers may not be enough. The claim that cotton is "natural" or "green" probably means it is not dyed with chemicals or chlorine bleach, but it may have been grown conventionally--and cotton is the world's most heavily sprayed field crop. Planted on only 3 percent of arable land, cotton crops account for 25 percent of the total pesticides and herbicides used annually--about 350 million pounds per year. Put another way, it takes 1-1/4 pounds of agricultural chemicals to produce the cotton in a single set of queen-size sheets, according to Christine Nielson, president of Coyuchi.

Michael Halley of Natural Selections explains that the pesticides and herbicides used to grow many fibers don't break down in water. Therefore, they remain in fabric even after the material has been washed several times. "That's not going to kill anybody, but you are going to have some residue from the field because of the nature of fibrous plants, which are exposed and open while they're growing," Halley says.

But let's face it, the bottom line is how these sheets will affect the quality of your sleeping experience. "The thing we hear most is that the bedding is so soft," Halley says about Natural Selections' organic cotton sheets. "You want to have this against your skin."

reprinted with permission from

Go back to Green Home's Bed Sheets page.

© 2007 Green Home, Inc.