Nothing but witches! What should scare us at Halloween they are the substances with which costumes are made, clear examples of ultra fast fashion. Lead, cadmium and BPA, this is what we wear on the “scariest” night of the year.
The costumes we buy for Halloween they are designed, literally, to be worn once. By the following year, in fact, it had all gone out of fashion and therefore into landfill. And he’s not alone pollution due to increased wastewe talk about chemicals which should really scare us.
The Center for Environmental Health ha found substances like lead, cadmium and BPA in pieces of costumes both of Halloween Express what about Spirit Halloween. According to what was reported to The Guardian by the scientific director of the CEH Mihir Vohrathe levels would have exceeded the quantity required by law warning (which, evidently, isn’t there).
Halloween Express he states on its website to comply with current regulations and to test products, but did not respond to requests for comment following the publication of the disturbing results.
Because the substances found in Halloween costumes are scary
Bisphenol A (BPA)
Bisphenol A (BPA) it is a known endocrine disruptortherefore capable of altering the hormonal balance and representing a significant risk to human health. Its ability to migrate in small quantities into foods and drinks, especially if the materials are damaged or exposed to high temperatures, has alarmed experts.
Recent studies by the European Environment Agency (EFSA) have shown that the exposure of Europeans to BPA far exceeds levels considered safeleading EFSA to drastically reduce the tolerable daily threshold for BPA.
This is why Europe officially said last June stop BPAvoting in favor of banning its use in food packaging and a wide range of commonly used items such as reusable plastic bottles, metal can liners, water coolers and other kitchenware.
Lead and Cadmium
As for lead, there is really no “safe” level of exposure, which is particularly harmful to children, for whom regular exposure can cause damage to the nervous system and intellectual disabilities.
And no, this doesn’t even stop the “cultured and rich” world: as it emerged and in fact in Report Card 2022 of the UNICEF Innocenti Research Center, more than 20 million children who live in the 39 OECD countries and the European Union have high levels of this metal in their blood, with Italy ranking sixth in the general ranking of environmental conditions that influence the well-being of children in industrialized countries.
Ingestion of cadmium can instead cause acute gastroenteritis, with permanent damage at sufficiently high levels. And even all this doesn’t stop industrialized countries: ConsumerReportshad conducted an investigation in 2022 on 28 tablets of dark chocolatefinding right lead and cadmium in all brands analyzed that, in some cases, these exceeded the maximum allowable dose (MADL), according to standards established by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) of California, for these two metals.
In 2023 the investigation was then expanded to other products containing chocolate and it didn’t go any better.
“Every product we tested contained detectable amounts of lead and cadmium,” reported James E. Rogers, director of product safety testing at Consumer Reports. “16 of the 48 products had quantities above the levels of concern of CR for at least one of the heavy metals, in some cases more than double our limitbut we found safer options in each category of chocolate products
What can we do
We always say it: in general, we avoid buying clothes and accessories from typical fast and ultra-fast fashion brands. This is not only because these increase, by definition, the amount of waste in landfill, but also because their low cost production it does not guarantee the quality standards that we need to protect our health at all.
With regard to Halloweenthere are many ways to dress in a “scary” way while respecting the environment and ourselves. First of all, we focus on do-it-yourself: there is no greater satisfaction than making Halloween costumes (and much more) with our own hands.
Some ideas in this article:
Halloween costumes with garbage bags: 6 DIY ideas you don’t expect!
And let’s not throw away, we will be beautiful and “scary” even with recycled costumes.
Happy Halloween everyone!
