Nurses and physicians always have a handful of tasks to do in hospitals and clinics, so engaging in other valuable organizations and activities such as green movement is almost impossible in its truest sense. However, showing support can always be done in many different ways. Among which is purchasing eco-friendly apparels like the bamboo-made nursing scrubs.

The Cherokee, a well-known manufacturer of high quality medical scrubs and lab coats, has a collection of eco-friendly scrub uniforms called Bamboo Planet. From the name itself, one will know that these uniforms were made from bamboo. The collection includes Cherokee scrub tops and pants for women. The Arboretum Cherokee drawstring v-neck top, for instance, is specified to be 45% bamboo rayon while the Cherokee flat front scrub pants 70%.

Is the Cherokee scrubs Bamboo Collection really eco-friendly, you may ask. It's common for people to ask this as the bamboo clothing's environment friendly attributes and sustainability are being questioned due to the so called health and environmental risks in the manufacturing processes. How eco-friendly then are the bamboo-made products that are in the market? Are the purportedly eco-friendly nursing scrubs at hand really are friendly to the environment?

The fact is there is no perfect "eco-friendly" textile processing. The conventional textile industry is using chemicals having significant impact on the health of people, the society and the environment. Organic cotton, hemp and bamboo viscose cannot give any perfect solution to the textile-related environmental issues, specifically if chemicals are left unmanaged. But they are better solutions when compared to the conventional cotton and synthetic fibers.

Why is bamboo a better solution? For one, bamboo grows rapidly without having to use chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides. They even flourish in the wild, needing no irrigation and replanting. This proves that bamboo provides tremendous sustainable cellulose for textile production. What about conventional or organic cotton production? It requires organic pesticides, organic fertilizers and irrigation; and yet the level of harvest is far lesser compared to bamboo.

As the issue on bamboo clothing industry mainly is with the chemical use in the production, the solution is stringent certification requirements. The manufacturing plant must follow clear and strict rules with regards to treating water and other waste products before it leaves the central area. This is easier to manage than the pesticide use in the field from which thousands of farmers and birds die per year. More importantly, the natural characteristic of cellulose is retained in the final product through Lyocell method.