I have a question on cotton use

[Legolas]

Ive been using cotton for about a month. I buy organic cotton and just noticed on the back of the packaging that even though they don't use that they " cotton is whitened and disinfected with Hydrogen Peroxide instead of Chlorine to avoid exposure to harmful chemical Dioxin residues". Is this something I should be concerned with? THis quote was taken off maxim site but walgreen is also the same. I hope this isn't a repeat question or just a stupid one.

 

[dchest02]

Absolutely not a stupid question.

I use Studio 65 organics from Walgreens, and they too are soaked with hydrogen peroxide "for whiteness" I believe this is the reason many people suggest boiling your cotton. I am not a cotton boiler, and my rationale behind that is that is can't be any worse for me to inhale dried hydrogen peroxide than what I was inhaling when I was smoking cigarettes.

IMO, it is really more of a personal preference than anything else.

 

[Ryedan]

Not a stupid question at all Legolas! Always be careful what is in your vape.

Before I started vaping cotton wicks I researched this. I don't have any links for you, but I remember I read enough to convince me that the tiny quantity of hydrogen peroxide in cotton would not hurt me.

Like dchest I also don't boil my cotton. If you are worried about it, try boiling it a couple of times in distilled water.

 

[AttyPops]

I'm not 100% sure on this...not a chemist. My rather limited understanding is:
Hydrogen Peroxide is rather caustic (depending on strength) when wet. But it basically gives up the extra oxygen and degrades to water.

So H2O2 degrades into H2O + O (well, probably in pairs and degrades into O2)

So basically, if it's dry...all the oxygen and the water are gone.

It's basically an oxygen bleach/sanitizer. Usually diluted. But IDK what strength they use for bleaching cotton.

Someone check me, but I think this is the case. IDK if there could be any residue or effects from using it; none that I can think of, assuming the cotton is dry.

Boiling MAY remove other things though....like cotton oils.

 

[Berylanna]

I have worked with Hydrogen Peroxide in factories in the olden days. By the time the cotton gets through the supply chain I don't see how any could be left on dry cotton. That is WHY they were bragging about using it instead of chlorine. It's not a "persistent poison" like some chemicals, it just burns.

You might enjoy this: Even 15% Hydrogen Peroxide can make paper or cotton catch fire as it dries. But the caustic stuff we bleach hair with is 3% and if using it to rinse my mouth or clean my ears, I always dilute it 50%, so that means 1.5 %. And I spit it out.

But the 15% stuff, if poured on paper or cotton then thrown away in a trash can, will start a fire. Because it heats up a little bit from the conversion from H2O2 to H2O + O2, then it's saturated with oxygen like in a room where someone is in an oxygen tent. Well, things that are at all thin and flammable will catch fire if you look at them cross-eyed in a high-oxygen environment.

I have trouble picturing anybody putting cotton into a plastic package while the peroxide is still present in any amount that could harm anybody, because I'd think the bag would get too much oxygen and create a shipping danger.

From Wikipedia: By volume, dry air contains 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen

Here's a paper on the toxicity of DRINKING A WHOLE GLASS OF industrial-strength peroxide, the guy was mostly OK after ER treatment, but ONLY because he realized his mistake and followed 250 ML of H2O2 with 500ml of water.

But that much inside your body at once can create oxygen bubbles in your bloodstream that can kill you, because gas bubbles in your blood are not good. The heart is not designed to pump air.

Accidental ingestion of 35% hydrogen peroxide

I use the unbleached cheesecloth if available just to be "green" but I would not be even slightly afraid of dry cheesecloth or string originally bleached in H2O2.