The report is available for download here.
Microplastics are ubiquitous and evidence of serious harm is increasing. Studies have linked microplastics and nanoplastics to heart attacks, strokes and deaths, and microplastics have been found in the bone marrow of leukaemia patients and in the brains of dementia patients.
Analyst Veronica Bates Kassatly and statistician Dr. Terry Townsend have compiled a report on microplastics, which is now published by the Bremen Cotton Exchange.
Accordingly, plastic microfibers are a completely different hazard category than other microfibers and must be treated as such in Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and Product Environmental Footprints (PEFs). Recognizing this fundamental difference, the European Commission’s March 2024 resolution on the Green Claims Directive specified that the PEF for Apparel and Footwear must incorporate a microplastic assessment.
Conflicts of interest instead of science
However, the sources tapped by both the French and EU PEFs to evaluate microfiber impact are not scientific organizations, but entities created and funded by vested interests. The conflicts of interest stemming from the involvement of stakeholders deeply tied to the production of clothing of fossil origin undermine the scientific foundations of environmental legislation and impede the effective management of long-term environmental challenges.
Fashion value chain LCAs/PEFs must make it clear that plastic fibers contain hazardous chemicals, and such fibers may create exposure to the different chemicals used throughout the item’s life cycle.
You can find the full press release here.
Veronica Bates Kassatly is an independent analyst of sustainability claims in the global apparel sector. A former World Bank economist and analyst, and briefly, the co-owner of a niche fashion brand, she is a leading voice in apparel sustainability. Bates Kassatly has co-authored multiple published papers on apparel and fiber impacts as well as green claims and legislation, including four papers with Professor Doro Baumann-Pauly for the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights, and more recently, two papers with Dr. Townsend for the Cotton Research and Development Corporation of Australia (CRDC).
Terry Townsend began his career in agriculture in 1974 as a Peace Corps Volunteer on Saipan in the Western Pacific. He worked at USDA for five years in the 1980s as a cotton analyst. He served as statistician for the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) for 12 years and executive director for 15 years before retiring at the end of 2013. He remains active in support of natural fibres through membership in the Discover Natural Fibres Initiative, as an author of articles and papers for industry publications, and as a consultant. He has a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from Oregon State University in the United States.
Both authors are available for questions and interviews. The Bremen Cotton Exchange is available to help you get in touch with them.