The difference between organic and regular cotton is that organic cotton is grown and harvested without the use of herbicides, pesticides, and insecticides.
The negative effects of these chemicals are well known, and includes the death of other plants, animals, and higher cancer, miscarriage and birth defect rates in people and animals near sites where herbicides were used. Many First Nations have banned the Canadian Government from using herbicides and pesticides on or near their traditional lands. Many home-use pesticides and herbicides have been taken off the shelves in recent years due to the risks associated with them. But others are still widely used in the U.S. and Canada.
An excerpt from this site:
"Conventional cotton is one of the most chemically-dependent crops, sucking up 10 percent of all agricultural chemicals and 25 percent of insecticides on 3 percent of our arable land; that's more than any other crop per unit.
That adds up to 1/3 of a pound of chemicals to produce enough cotton for a t-shirt, and 3/4 of a pound for a pair of jeans. And that's just not bad for the planet; 20,000 deaths occur each year from pesticide poisoning in developing countries, many of these from cotton farming, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Organic cotton on the other hand, uses agricultural methods designed to help sustain the land it grows on, and protects the people and wildlife around it from harmful effects...
Composting, frequent crop rotations and cover crop strategies replace synthetic fertilizers to keep the soil healthy and productive.
In the Sault, you can find organic clothing at The Rad Zone, Boat House, and West 49 for the same price as regular cotton.
Do you know of any other stores that sell organic cotton?