Green England Articles WHITE GOLD - THE TRUE COST OF COTTON

WHITE GOLD - THE TRUE COST OF COTTON

Uzbekistan is the third largest cotton exporter in the world. About one in four of all cotton garments sold in the UK contain a percentage of Uzbek cotton fibres.



What’s actually happening in Uzbekistan:



Over 80% of the loss of water from the Aral Sea is due to irrigation for the Uzbek cotton industry, so it is responsible for one of the World’s greatest environmental disasters. For 50 years, the cotton has been grown on the same land- leading to massive use of pesticide and fertiliser. Because of this, the Aral Sea has disappeared; creating pollution and the level of diseases in Uzbekistan is sky high.

The industry relies on cheap labour. School children are regularly required to spend up to two months in the cotton fields in Uzbekistan. Despite official denials, child labour is still in use in Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Students in all three countries must miss their classes to pick cotton. Little attention is paid to the conditions in which children and students work. Every year many fall ill or die.

Uzbek farm workers are tied to the farm. The state farm worker normally gets two dollars a month. Their living and nutritional standards would improve greatly if, rather than grow cotton, they had a little area to grow subsistence crops.



Make a better choice-Organic cotton

Article submitted by www.wecomeone.co.uk

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