Alden Wicker

How to Assess a Brand for Toxicity So many brands claiming they're sustainable, so little time!

A commenter says: "That was awesome! Not only for researching an existing brand, but what to do if I want to make sure my own has the right parameters. Thank you!" ecocult.substack.com/p/how-to-ass...

Milwaukee faces lead crisis without CDC experts RFK Jr. fired "The people who were answering our questions are just gone,” City Health Commissioner Michael Totoraitis said in an interview after the firings Tuesday at

The reason why parents realized that their kids were being lead-poisoned by tainted apple sauce pouches was because of the work of a federally-funded network of CDC offices.

All the employees in that lead detection and prevention program have been fired.

www.eenews.net/articles/mil...

Trump officials quietly move to reverse bans on toxic ‘forever chemicals’ EPA bids to change chemical risk evaluations, which could expose public to higher levels of PFAS and other pollutants

This is bad. The Trump administration is trying to overrule all the state-level bans on PFAS. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

That Free Swag Bag Is Toxic "We're in such a murky, dirty world of promotional products."

If you're not testing it, it's got about a 37% chance of being toxic. Especially promotional products. open.substack.com/pub/ecocult/...

What if Our Fashion Was Based in Community? Capsule wardrobes are dumb. Community-rooted wardrobes, however...

Out: Capsule wardrobes. In: dressing in community.

Babe, Your Body Acne Is From Your Plastic Clothing I mean, it's obvious once you think about it, right? But science backs this up.

And yet, dermatologists won't tell you this.

Hey, Looks Like Like Those California Cancer Labels Are Working Turns out companies don't like telling customers that their products have carcinogens and reproductive toxins.

Don't roll your eyes at the California warning labels. Turns out, they're protecting you from toxic chemicals. ecocult.substack.com/p/hey-looks-...

But, womp, Customs physically cannot carry this out. There are 2 million individual packages coming in every day from China. So, the effect will be slow.

Trump Took on De Minimis. But Will It Stick? Trump's executive order exacted new duties on China, and prevents the country's e-commerce players from utilizing the duty-free trade provision.

In "I gotta give it to him" news, after Biden tried and failed, Trump finally closed the de minimus loophole that allowed Shein and Temu to dump toxic products on Americans and undercut quality brands. sourcingjournal.com/topics/trade...

In a first, scientists find microplastics are building up deep in our brains A new study shows that microplastics are making their way into our brains, and that their numbers are rising.

A new study shows 50% more microplastics in brains in 2024 than in 2016.

"The scientists also examined the brains of 12 deceased patients diagnosed with dementia, and found that they had three to five times more microplastics than normal brains."

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

EPA employees told to pause most external communications and cancel meetings with outside parties The agency joins several across government at which the Trump administration has issued at least a partial gag order. An agency spokesperson has denied that a pause is in place.

Trump gagging the EPA and threatening to fire its employees is really going to Make America Healthy Again. How is RFK going to take down pesticide makers without any support from the pesticide regulation agency? www.govexec.com/workforce/20...

Melania Trump's Eco-Friendly Winter Fashion Tips | Sustainable Discover how Melania Trump's approach to sustainability can inspire eco-friendly fashion choices for winter 2025. Learn about luxurious yet sustainable style tips, digital sustainability in fashion, a...

What in the AI slop garbage is THIS. www.journee-mondiale.com/en/i-tried-m...

What does Trump's federal funding freeze mean for people who get aid? Many are unclear on how sweeping the federal funding freeze is intended to be. Here are programs it could affect.

Oh, and also the truly chaotic pause on federal funding that led to the shut down of the Medicaid funding system? Not good for our health. www.cbsnews.com/news/federal...

The MAHA movement's hopes all hinge on RFK going after Big Pharma, Big Food, Big Chemical. But even if he's confirmed, I'm not sure how he'll succeed if other agency heads are hellbent on protecting the interests of petrochemical and processed food corporations.

Federal regulations paused, halting FDA's proposed ban on formaldehyde in hair products Over the years, an increasing number of studies have linked formaldehyde to cancers that are especially prevalent among Black women.

4. Trump paused all federal health regulations, putting a ban on formaldehyde in hair products in limbo. www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/...

Donald Trump’s No. 2 Pick for the EPA Represented Companies Accused of Pollution Harm David Fotouhi, a lawyer who recently challenged a ban on asbestos, worked to roll back climate regulations and water protections while serving in the Environmental Protection Agency during Trump’s fir...

3. Including a guy who thinks asbestos shouldn't be banned and has actively fought against water protections on behalf of polluting clients. www.propublica.org/article/davi...

2. He stocked the EPA with petro/chemical lobbyists....https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/25/climate/epa-staff-oil-gas-chemical-industry-lobbyists.html

Amid series of rapid-fire policy reversals, Trump quietly withdraws proposed limits on PFAS By Shannon Kelleher Amid a flurry of actions curtailing Biden’s environmental policies, the administration of newly inaugurated President Donald Trump this week withdrew a plan to set limits on toxic...

1. He withdrew proposed limits on PFAS, the "forever chemicals" that are carcinogenic and reproductive toxic, and in half of Americans' drinking water: www.thenewlede.org/2025/01/amid...

Americans across the political spectrum agree that there are far too many toxins in our food, air, water, and homes. So here's how Trump has already made America Healthy Again in the past week....

It is damn near impossible to grow 100% of a balanced diet on your own and unthinkable if you don’t have a lick of experience. You wanna cut down your produce bills w a couple raised beds, maybe learn to can? Sure. You want to opt entirely out of the preexisting food system? Lol. Lmao. Enjoy scurvy.

Indie Bookstores Will Soon Be Able to Sell E-Books Bookshop, a site that lets independent, bricks-and-mortar bookshops sell their books online, is launching an app that will allow the sales of e-books, too.

This is such great news. For so long Amazon has had a chokehold on ebooks. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/b...

Our Customers Demand Terrible AI Systems We’ve been banging our heads against the wall, trying to think of the new “it” thing our customers want. At one point, somebody suggested improving...

"Customers only care about one thing: barely functioning AI crammed into every facet of their lives... Doesn’t that sound fun? Just living in a constant state of fear that all of the information you have access to is anywhere from a little to very wrong?"

www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/our...

U.S. States With the Healthiest Diets To determine the U.S. states with the healthiest diets, researchers created a composite index based on 10 key food and health factors.

Just because we don't want to waste all the apples from the old trees everywhere! "New England states top list for fruit and vegetable intake. 64%+ of adults consume fruits daily (led by Vermont at 66%), 84%+ eat vegetables daily (led by Maine at nearly 87%)." www.traceone.com/resources/pl...

"Biodegradable" Polyesters: Are They For Real? An update: I was a little bit too gullible before.

At least five different companies have created a synthetic fiber with an additive that makes it break down in the presence of bacteria. But no large brand is using them.

Something is up.

open.substack.com/pub/ecocult/...

Hear me out: you take the hard-won products of journalism, science, art and creativity, you use vast amounts of electrical energy during a time-sensitive energy transition to re-jumble the words and sentences, and then you present the outputs as being better and more trustworthy than the original

Are toxic chemicals in fashion under-regulated? - Land and Climate Review Bertie speaks to Alden Wicker about her book 'To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick - and How We Can Fight Back'.

"Anything under 5% of a textile's weight doesn't need to be listed—enough to hide carcinogenic or reproductive toxic chemicals."

@aldenwicker.bsky.social

From the archive: originally published 26/7/24

www.landclimate.org/...

I'm glad someone else is talking about this!

The Big "Mongolian" Cashmere Scam You think you're sipping on Veuve, when you're actually drinking André.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but almost every single fashion company is actually just selling Chinese cashmere."

Great piece by
@aldenwicker.bsky.social: The Big "Mongolian" Cashmere Scam open.substack.com/pub/ecocult/...

i think it’s unfair to expect regular people to know precisely how journalism works so i will say the answer to “why did they sit on that story for so long” is often “because of lawyers”

Yikes. An Australian toddler's Temu hoodie caught fire instantly from a spark from a firepit, melting her skin. WTF was that hoodie made of??? www.news.com.au/national/que...