Wearing Formaldehyde

Did you realize you very probably own at least one clothing item that has you wearing formaldehyde every time you don that garment? Especially now with the wide availability of "wrinkle free" and "no iron" apparel on the market, your wardrobe is almost guaranteed to include at least one item of apparel that will be keeping you in close proximity to this carcinogen, maybe even on a daily basis.
In order for this chemical to work its supposed magic, it has to be applied to the fabric with heat, or in other words, baked right into it, so there's no way it's ever coming out, no matter how many times you put the garment through the laundry.
When you encounter formaldehyde as an additive to a fabric, you don't encounter it in its most immediately detectable form, because the distinctive odour is mostly gone. Just think back to your high school science classes, however, and I'm sure you'll remember the nasty smell from those preserved specimens you had to dissect; that frog or whatever other hapless little corpse that was floating in a jar of formaldehyde, waiting for you and your scalpel. It's a stink that most of us who've been in one of those science classes will never forget. Now think of that chemical being applied to your own skin.
Tests done in the U.S. recently revealed that pretty much every American tested had levels of this chemical and others in their blood. Even umbilical cords were found to contain the disturbing chemical presence. Why put yourself through daily exposure to carcinogens? Maybe having to drag out an iron occasionally just isn't that big a deal, especially when compared to the risk the wrinkle-free fabric poses to the health of you and yours. Maybe looking for clothes made from fabrics that are a little more natural is actually you doing yourself a big favour. After all, cotton can wrinkle and so can wool, but neither one of them, when left in their natural state, can pose a carcinogenic risk to you.
Before you dismiss all this as more alarmist hand-wringing from environmentalists, there are a few facts of which you should be aware. In 2002,for instance, 3M ceased using perfluorinated chemicals in its signature product, Scotchgard. Why would they do such a thing if PFC's really were perfectly safe? Also, Dupont has pledged to eliminate virtually all perflourinated chemicals from its products by 2015. Since the name of the game for 3M, Dupont or any other such company is profit, you know they would not lightly undertake any alteration of present practices. Such an alteration is usually short-term expensive and that is most often all it takes for manufacturers to resist making it. If, however, they willingly undertake such a move, it must mean an incredible level of perceived profit, in this case the profit of increased safety for the people significant to the decision makers at Dupont - their customers, their own families, themselves.
Why willingly expose yourself to formaldehyde or any of those other deadly chemical concoctions our clothes are too often steeped in? Why not give some thought, instead, to a peaceful co-existence with wrinkles?