Wool and the Environment

Thirteen Mile Lamb and Wool Company
One of Eco-terrics's favorite
organic wool producers!

Excerpted from two articles by The Organic Trade Association
Here are some reasons why organic wool production is important to the long-term health of the planet:

- More than 14,000 pounds of insecticides were applied to sheep in the United States in 2000, the most recent year for which data is available (in the 22 states which have the highest sheep production). These pesticides are used to control mange, mites, lice, flies, and other pests. Some sheep and lambs receive multiple applications of several different chemicals.

- Pesticides used in sheep production can pose risks to human health and the environment. The top three insecticides used on sheep in 2005 - fenvalerate, malathion and permethrin - are all slightly to acutely toxic to humans, moderately to highly toxic to fish and amphibians, and are suspected endocrine disruptors. Malathion is highly water soluble (can be easily transported from the application site by stormwater or irrigation water runoff) and the anaerobic half-life for fenvalerate in soil is more than 155 days, potentially enabling it to cause groundwater contamination.

- Pesticides used in sheep dips have consistently been linked with damage to the nervous system in workers that have been exposed to them in the United Kingdom . Even low-dose exposure over the long term has been conclusively linked with reduced nerve fiber function, anxiety, and depression. Long-term exposure to sheep dip has also been linked to reduced bone formation. In addition, residues of diflubenzuron, an insecticide used in sheep dips, persist in the environment for more than a year.

- Two antibiotics, oxytetracycline and chlortetracycline, are approved for growth promotion in sheep. These antibiotic feed additives are used to promote slightly faster growth and to compensate for overcrowded and unhealthy conditions in concentrated animal feeding operations. Mounting evidence suggests that widespread use of agricultural antibiotics is contaminating surface waters and groundwater, including drinking water, in many rural areas as a result of their presence in animals waste. This non-human use of antibiotics is compromising medicine's effectiveness in people as bacteria become resistant to antibiotics over time.

How is organic wool used?

Organic wool can be used in any application in which conventional wool is used. Some of the organic wool products most widely available today are: baby clothes, blankets, coats, knitting yarn, socks, sweaters, and throws. As the market for organic wool products grows, so too are applications expanding for its use.

Why does organic wool cost more than conventional wool?

The cost of organic wool is more than that of conventional for several reasons:

1) Organic wool producers receive a higher price at the farm gate as their costs of production are higher, primarily associated with higher labor, management, and certification costs; 2) The organic wool industry is very small relative to the overall wool industry and does not have the economies of scale and resulting efficiencies of its conventional counterpart; and 3) Federal organic standards for livestock production prohibit overgrazing. If the price of wool is low, the difference cannot be made up by simply increasing production per unit of land, as is commonly practiced by many livestock producers.