This is an op-ed piece by Nadya Agrawal. If you would like to respond to the author, please comment below or contact us by email.
We talked previously about the cruel way in which silk is produced.
But we have not stopped to consider the people involved in silk production. The silk industry in India has a laundry list of human rights violations, including child labor law violations with children as young as 5 working 12-17 hour days and paid less that Rs. 10 a day.
There are millions of children working in the silk industry today. These kids are frequently beaten, have to dip their hands in boiling water to fish out cocoons, and often get infected from handling dead silkworms.
Some are “bonded” to their boss and work like indentured servants, chipping away only slightly at insurmountable amounts of debt. They are kept out of school and most grow up to be illiterate and crippled by their work in silk factories.
The silk industry also relies on sweatshop labor and lacks fair-trade standards. On average, in the major silk producing states, like Assam, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, etc., the amount of the population living below the poverty line is about 30%.
That is really high for industries that employ tons of people. It seems that silk workers, who are mostly Dalits, or Untouchables, are being paid only enough for their next meal rather than enough to actually overcome their poverty.
This is, of course, a complicated issue that is not resolved by simply discontinuing silk use – because then where would all these workers go? How would they be able to take care of themselves and their families?
In addition, the silkworms used in silk production are subjected to incredibly violent acts of animal abuse. For those who say “But why does it matter, they are just bugs?” there is scientific evidence that silkworms have neurological systems and feel pain so being boiled alive or gassed to death are very gruesome ways to go. And it takes 15 dead silkworms to make 1 gram of silk. 10,000 to make a single silk sari.
Ahimsa and Vanya silk seem to have the right idea by using non-harmful silk extraction procedures (which at least don't harm the worms and rely on small-holding, self-employed farmers). The thing is, despite their ostensibly well-meaning intentions, Ahimsa and Vanya are not cruelty-free.
Former writer for Greenopedia, Aria Melton, said, “When I was a green entrepreneur, I encountered several “ethical” companies that had shockingly flexible ethics…Unfortunately, too many well-meaning consumers are easily placated by labels and buzzwords. Ethical consumers need to know that not all slubby silk is peace silk (slubs can also be the result of double cocoons, damaged cocoons from conventional silk production, or silk spun from cultivated silk waste) and that slubby silk isn’t guaranteed to be sweatshop-free.”
The Ahimsa method consists of slitting the cocoon and tipping the pupa out of it, without harming the worm. Sometimes the worms are forced out of the cocoons prematurely and they die.
Caring for newborn silkworms is difficult as they require certain foods administered at certain times. It is easy to kill off entire generations of worms through starvation or mishandling which leads to diseased eggs.
As well, the silkworms bred for Ahimsa silk are bred for maximum silk production and suffer for it. Bombyx mori silkworms, which are often used in creating peace silk, can’t fly because their bodies are too big for their wings. Also, the males can’t eat because their mouth parts are underdeveloped. So their quality of life is not great.
As PETA representative Ashley Byrne said to me in a phone interview, “Even when people are using methods that are supposed to be less cruel, they are using animals to get products [and] the animals’ best interests are not put as a top priority. The animals do suffer.”
She also adds that there is no way to certify whether cruelty-free standards are upheld and sometimes regular, silk-worm harming silk is sold as Ahimsa silk.
Even the Vanya method, or the procurement of ‘wild’ silk cocoons, is not cruelty free. Though they are raised outside and protected from predation, the silkworms are very rarely allowed to live and breed. Most are killed within their cocoons.
While many websites will promote the Vanya (Tussah) method, claiming it is wildecrafted or cruelty-free because these cocoons are simply taken from the natural environment after the worm is done with them, this remains incorrect.
If we stop to consider the economics of this situation: Each silk item requires thousands of cocoons. Therefore the farmer has practically no way of recouping the cost of silk production if his method is to just wander around a jungle until he stumbles on a few cocoons. It is infeasible, and he must farm them in some way.
Silkworms have to be raised and harvested to produce silk. There is currently no way to do so without harming the worm in some way.
We do not live in an ideal world yet where we can preserve the livelihoods of farmers without killing silkworms. I am not trying to justify the abuse we put silkworms through, but there is obviously no simple solution to this problem.
To stop wearing silk would harm an industry full of poor menial laborers and their families. Yet, to promote silk would perpetuate their suffering at the hands of the silk industry and encourage the death of millions of silkworms.
An impossible choice.
But, on a lighter note, if the idea of wearing thousands of insect cocoons (and possibly some bits of dead silkworm) grosses you, there are some ways you can avoid overusing silk products at your next Desi event:
- Instead of buying new, recycle. Saris are about six yards of fabric. If you take an old silk sari to the right tailor, you can get it cut down into a lehnga or kurta salwar.
- You could go vintage and dig out your mother's or grandmother's old saris and get them repaired for a truly timeless look.
- Go for blends – get silk-cotton mixes and reduce the amount of animal cruelty you sport at the next gala.
- Or, better yet, suck it up and choose an alternative like nylon or cotton. (According to Greenopedia, corn-based Inego and Tencel, which is made from wood pulp, resemble the look and feel of silk.)
If you have any more suggestions on how to avoid using silk while maintaining head-turning glamor, let us know!
Photo courtesy of Ecouterre
Sources: India, Science and Technology, Human Rights Watch, Worm Spit, Animal Rights at About.com, Aria Melton, and PETA