Can laundering additives help?
• Starch, yes. Cotton or cotton-blend fabrics may be starched to help prevent pesticides from reaching the skin. Starch seems to trap pesticide so that both the starch and pesticide wash away in the next laundry. Starch must be reapplied after each wash. Heavy starching of the lower pantlegs helps form a pesticide-barrier and shouldn’t be uncomfortable to the wearer. • Ammonia and chlorine bleach, no. Ammonia and bleach have not been shown to assist in removing pesticide residues. Never use bleach and ammonia in the same wash load; toxic fumes result. • Fabric softeners, no. Studies show that fabric softeners neither help nor hinder residue removal in cotton fabrics. • Prewash sprays, maybe. Solvent-based aerosol sprays assist removal of oil-based pesticide formulations in cottons. To tell if prewash sprays contain a solvent, read the caution label. It should say something like, “Caution: Contains petroleum solvents.” • Salt, maybe. Salt helps remove paraquat, but not other pesticides.
