Diapers piled to the Sky

Finally, my cloth diapers arrived from Utah (insert your own Mormon joke here). My parents, following manufacturers advice, laundered them immediately. So, I can poo this much between washings. That's good, because when I get out of here, I intend to use a lot of these. Studies show that the average baby boy uses about 5,000 diapers before potty training. If this holds true, I will use each of these diapers around 85 times. I hope I can fill that order. Now, many of you out there may be asking, why cloth diapers, don't your parents know that there are diapers that you can just throw away after every use. Yes, they know that, but let's look at the facts, alright. First, the previously mentioned number of 5000 diapers. 5000 diapers at 30 cents a piece ( at drugstore.com) that's $1500 dollars. And, if you want fancier options the price goes up from there. My cloth diapers only cost $100 with all the accessories. Even if you figure 3 cents to launder each diapers, that is only $150 dollars. All told, my bowel movements will come to a whopping $250 dollars with cloth diapers. That's like$1250 that I can use on spring break in Cabo some day. Then, there is the trash factor. Everybody knows that disposable diapers go to the landfill. But did you know how much room they take up, one square meter (for those of you reading this that discount anything French, including the metric system, that's about 1 yard square) per child. Imagine! Now, these days the big thing in disposable diapers is biodegradability. Well folks, that's just great if you intend to leave them laying out on your yard. But, if you throw them away like most people, you must understand that nothing biodegrades in a sealed landfill. The mess you made as a child is still there, as well as all of your friends, their kids, grand kids, etc. Where will people my age, minus six weeks and younger, live if the whole surface of the planet is just a layer of dirt over little packets of poo? And, last, but not least as it will affect me the most immediately, cloth diapers are better for my health. It seems that the disposable diaper industry has been lying to us. It seems that their product is not better for people like me, they are much worse. The disposable diaper industry itself did a study, and found out that diaper rash incidents went up between 7.9% and 10% with disposable diapers. If that's not enough, look at some of the stuff that is in disposable diapers:


SODIUM POLYACRYLATE - This is the chemical, added in powder form to the inner pad of a disposable, that makes it super-absorbent. When the powdered form becomes wet, it turns into a gel.

Properties:
-It can absorb up to 100X its weight in water.
-It can stick to baby's genitals, causing allergic reactions.
-Reported to cause severe skin irritations, oozing blood from perineum and scrotal tissues,
fever, vomiting and staph infections in babies.
-When injected into rats it has caused hemorrhage, cardiovascular failure and death.
-Banned from tampons in 1985 because of its link to Toxic Shock Syndrome.
-Has killed children after ingesting as little as 5 grams of it.
-Causes female organ problems, slows healing wounds, fatigue and weight loss to
the employees in factories that manufacture it.


DIOXIN - This is the chemical by-product of the paper-bleaching process, using chlorine gas, in the manufacturing of diapers.

Properties:
-It is a carcinogenic - cancer-causing chemical.
-The EPA lists it as the MOST TOXIC of all cancer-linked chemicals.
-In small quantities it causes birth defects, skin/liver disease, immune system suppression &
genetic damage in lab animals.
-Banned in most countries, but not the United States.


TRIBUTYL TIN (TBT) - An environmental pollutant, considered highly toxic, that spreads through the skin and has a hormone-like effect in the smallest concentrations.

Properties:
-It harms the immune system and impairs the hormonal system.
-Speculated that it could cause sterility in boys.



Enough said!