The health risks of artificial dyes,
the health risks of polyester and plastics in textiles,
their common cause and solution.
Lotus & Michael’s small role in the answer
First, let’s answer your question- "who the hell do these people think they are, associating themselves with a national health campaign?" If you read on to the end, maybe you will agree. And maybe you won’t. Read on anyway, because your children’s health is at stake.
Artificial dyes in food
91.7 million boxes of Froot Loops sold per year
The biggest shock of this is WHY was it allowed to happen?
Here’s the bottom line of artificial dyes:
After measuring 39,763 products, researchers found that “The researchers found that 19 percent of the products contained synthetic dyes, representing more than $46 billion in consumer purchases in 2020. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Red No. 40 was the most common synthetic dye (14 percent of products). Per product, the number of synthetic dyes varied from zero to seven. Overall, 28 and 11 percent of products in the top five categories marketed to children and in the remaining categories contained synthetic dyes, respectively. Products containing synthetic dyes had 141 percent higher mean total sugar compared with products without synthetic dyes (33.3 versus 13.8 g per 100 g). Lower levels of sodium and saturated fat were seen in products containing synthetic dyes.”
Why Food dyes? “Synthetic (human-made) dyes exist only to add color to products like foods, drinks and even medicines. The dyes don’t help preserve foods, and they have no nutritional benefit.”
Looks great to the kids, eh? Makes M&Ms shiny and colorful, eh?
What are the health risks of these beautiful, useless colors?
• Allergies
• Cancer
• Inflammation of the colon and colorectal health problems
• DNA damage
• Behavioral changes
Wait, there’s more:
Behavioral changes that food dyes may contribute to include:
• Hyperactivity
• Irritability
• Memory problems
• Restlessness
• Volatile moods
Synthetics and plastics in clothing and textiles
This list is too long to reprint here. You can look at my isourcerer blog article entitled, “Is Recycling the Answer to the Textile Clothing Catastrophe? Nice, but NO.”
An even more shocking disaster for our environment and our children. A few highlights:
• Producing textiles creates 42 million tonnes of plastic waste each year
• 10% of microplastics that enter the ocean every year are from textiles
• Synthetic textile waste takes much longer to decompose – polyester can take between 20 and 200 years to break down, nylon takes anywhere from 30 to 40 years, and rubber takes 50 to 80 years
• Polyester production volumes increased from 61 million tonnes in 2021 to 63 million tonnes in 2022. Polyester continues to be the most widely produced fiber, making up 54% of the global market in 2022.
• Clothes made using synthetic fibres such as polyester and acrylic are responsible for more than 60% of global apparel purchases
• According to a study by a team from Plymouth University, in the UK, each cycle of a washing machine could release more than 700,000 plastic fibres into the environment.
their common cause and solution
What do you imagine could be the cause of these problems? Why would a company allow such harmful products to be marketed in such huge quantities and to play such a massive deleterious role in our health and the environment?
Well, either
1. they didn’t know, or
2. Greed
I don’t know about you, but my vote goes to #2.
Most important, they had a facilitator and a partner up until now: the FDA.
How was this ever allowed?
A question before we continue—how does this make you feel. Sick? Disgusted? Stupid? Responsible for harm? If none of those, if not worse, you might as well stop reading.
The solution
We all know what the solution is for synthetic dyes. STOP using them, NOW. If the government under RFK, Jr. is not disruptive, big business will find a way around it. Main problems: not that it can’t be done, but it costs more and doesn’t look as enchanting to children.
What about textiles and clothing? Can we ban polyester and force the industry to use recyclable materials? Sure. But again, big business will find a way around it. Who has the courage to take such precipitous action and bite the profit of big business?
I think we all know the answer is nobody, EXCEPT the consumer who can stop buying the product. Will they do it, and pay more? I believe we all know the answer to that one, too. At least right now.
So this is where Lotus & Michael comes in, and where brands like ours can follow. For us, our commitments are clearly spelled out and have been since we opened the business.
Let’s reprint them here:
Our Dozen Commitments:
1. Original Designs-All the designs showing on our products are created, owned and copyrighted by LotusandMichael,LLC.
2. Artisanal craftmanship-We pay meticulous attention to every detail, our products are crafted by the most skilled artisans with supreme fabrics to meet our high-quality standard. We would and do wear anything we sell to you.
3. Dependable Pricing-We guarantee that each product’s price on our website will be reliable and consistent, so as to be fair to every one of you when making a purchase. You will have the security of knowing your price won’t be discounted after you buy the item.
4. Payment Security-The payment methods offered on our website are secure by Shopify and Paypal. You can shop freely without any concern.
5. Pre-shipment Inspection-Though our manufacturers have conducted multiple inspections at our workshop, we inspect every piece of our products as a double guarantee before we ship it to you.
6. Customer Service-Offering you great products and services are our goal. Whenever you have questions or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact us (lotus@lotusandmichael.com).
7. Social Compliance-Our factories must adhere to our Code of Conduct, which looks out for the Health, Safety and Welfare of our workers; we guarantee to adhere to the SA 8000 standards, which include ensuring:
• No Underage labor
• Right to Collective bargaining
• No Discrimination
• No Environmental harm
• Freedom of association
• No Harassment and abuse
• Compliance with Health & Safety Standards that protect workers
• No Prison or forced labor
• Wages that are fairly applied according to local and international standards and properly compensate workers for normal and extra work hours, days or task
• No Excessive work hours- Workers must have at least one day of rest per week and overtime should be limited to 12 hours/week
• No Unauthorized Subcontracting at Non-Compliant workshops
8. Fair Trade-We guarantee that we have ensured that the factories and workers in our supply chain comply with local and global Fair Trade standards. Our Suppliers will not pay less than the local and global standard, even if they can.
9. Paying Our Suppliers on Time-Once we buy something, we own it and will pay the suppliers for it in full and on time as agreed.
10. Worker Community Welfare-We take responsibility for the communities of workers in our factories and aim to build viable communities for them and their families. We pay a fair price that builds communities and sustains workers and their families.
11: Sustainability and Minimal Environmental Impact-As home gardeners, we appreciate nature and our planet. Here we proudly announce that:
• All the materials used in our products are natural and sustainable.
• We build our products with great attention to be timeless and durable, so with a little tender loving care, they can be with you for years.
• We are extremely selective on merchandising in order to produce less, thus less textile waste and more benefit for our planet.
• We minimize our packaging to avoid wastage and avoid non-recyclable materials.
• In our small way, we are willing to contribute as much as possible to the earth’s future.
12. Privacy Policy- Your time on our site is totally voluntary. We will never sell your information to third parties or follow you with tracking cookies. Our site is open to all and the information therein will never be gated content.
Baker’s Dozen-Symmetry and harmony with nature: Nature produced the materials for our product and our blessed environment. Lotus & Michael is a tribute to nature’s best and most beautiful. It brings us great happiness, and our mission is to bring that to you through our offering.
Wait, there’s more: We also address the waste and landfill catastrophe by building our garments in Premium Fabrics, artisanal make, multifunctionality, classic styling, with a touch of embroidery to make them unique. So you can buy less and buy better. Yes, it may cost a little more, but not when gauged by wearings/garment. Like the car you paid a little more for but were able to safely drive 200K miles.
Not done yet: We have staked our future on Plant Dye Fabrics—where, in addition to using premium natural fibers like cotton and linen, we dye them with real plant substances, not synthetic (sometimes toxic) dyes. This is where we are going-real sustainability- and our individual contribution to MAHA.
We, in our small way, are out to Make America (and the world) Healthy Again. Join us!
