New Silk Production Technique Does Not Require Killing Worms
by Justin Thomas, Virginia 
on 07. 8.06
Kusuma Rajaiah, an Indian man, has developed a new technique for producing silk that does not require killing silk worms in the process. [Note: We've been informed that a company in Oregon, Peace Silk, already uses this technique]. Right now, producing a silk saree involves killing of at least 50 thousand silkworms. Rajaiah has won the patent for producing the "Ahimsa" silk. Ahimsa is a religious concept which advocates non-violence and a respect for all life. However, the production of the silk is more expensive. For example, a saree which costs 2400 rupees to produce using regular silk, will cost 4000 rupees when made with Ahimsa silk.
Rajaiah says: "My inspiration is Mahatma. He gave a message to the Indian silk industry that if silk can be produced without killing silkworms, it would be better. He dreamt but that did not happen in his lifetime. I am the happiest person that at least I could do this little thing."
Rajaiah says he started giving a serious thought to "Ahimsa" silk when in the 1990s. Janaki Venkatraman, wife of the former President, asked if she could get a silk saree that is made without killing silk worms. Yarn for a silk saree is usually produced by throwing live cocoons of silkworm into boiling water. A single saree needs upto 50,000 cocoons. Rajaiah allows the moth to escape from the cocoon by waiting for 7-10 days and then uses the shells to produce yarn.
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Waiting extra 7-10 days as a patent?! Anyone who raised silkworms know that the butterfly will leave the cocoon after a while. What is the great innovative thing that deserves to be patented?
A Portland Oregon company has been doing this for years : Peace Silk
Look dude you're missing the point. A 'patent' maybe dumb, but so is killing all these moths in boiling water if these KNOW that they will leave the cocoon in only a week. ARE THEY THAT IMPATIENT AND DISGUSTINGLY GREEDY THAT THEY CAN'T WAIT?
IF THEY ALL KNOW IT THEN WHY DON'T THEY WAIT? WHY HASN'T IT ALWAYS BEEN PRODUCED THAT WAY?
LIKE ANYONE WILL CARE ABOUT THE PATENT SINCE THEY ARE SO GREEDY AND COULD CARE LESS ABOUT ANYTHING BESIDES THEMSELVES AND $$$$$$.
I don't understand why the silk is so much more expensive if the process isn't really that different? Is the time lag that extreme?
Wouldn't that cause an unnatural over population of these moths? What do they eat? Who eats them?
Used to keep silkworms as a child. Fed them on mulbury bush leaves and watched them go through their life cycle. Most seemed to produce a straw-yellow colored cacoon but the odd cacoon was this incredible lime-green, that was the highpoint of the life cycle for me.
From wikipedia:
"If the animal is allowed to survive after spinning its cocoon, it will make a hole in the cocoon when it exits as a moth. This would cut short the threads and ruin the silk. Instead, silkworm cocoons are thrown into boiling water, which kills the silkworms and also makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Often, the silkworm itself is eaten."
The patent is for a new method of production which allows the moth to escape unharmed. From what I gather, the technique involves strategically cutting a hole into the cocoon at the right time such that the moth still has a way out yet minimizes damage to the silk fibres. The resulting yields are significantly lower than traditional production methods, hence the higher cost.
Hm,
Koreans loooooove to eat roasted silkworms as a snack, thus, nothing is ever wasted this way, either.
I don't understand. Is this an environmental issue? As long as they don't completely waste the boiled silkworms (They are eaten in Korea, according to Marie), I don't see what the problem is with the older, cheaper method. I suppose the new method provides some energy savings. Then again, maybe it's best that 50 thousand captive bred silkworms are not released into the wild. What would that do to the surrounding ecosystem?
How about choose a different material to make clothes out of? Do we always have to torture and destroy the lives of every other creature just for vanity? Esp. when there are alternatives like bamboo. Green is about a lot more then just trees and grass. It is an environmental issue because animals are part of the environment. Cruelty is not green. What It's only an environmental issue if it effects 'your' environment?
Nik,
In my experience, bamboo fiber is quite similar to silk. I don't know how the two materials compare in terms of production costs.
Justin
Good point Nik. Although, I don't know what you mean by "your environment." As environmental and/or animal activists, we should refrain from becoming too accusatory when someone is simply asking a few questions.
On the surface, this development in silk manufacturing appears to be positive. If silk is to be produced (I have no interest in the material myself) from millions of captive bred worms, its best that they are not introduced into the wild (which could certainly negatively effect other animals and plants in the surrounding ecosystem).
There is also silk harvested from wild worms. So unlike releasing thousands of moths in the wild for each 'crop', a person goes out and harvests the wild stuff. Of course the result is expensive silk [same deal with wild harvested down], so I prefer using plants for my cloth.
I agree with Andrew - while interesting and undesirable, worm cruelty just isn't an environmental issue.
On a side note, silk is an excellent, flexible, environmentally-friendly material. It is free of the monoculture/clearcutting becoming more common in bamboo production, and less industrially intensive than processing bamboo into fabric.
Anyone got anything on what happens when thousands (millions?) of moths are released into the local ecosystem? That could make it an environmental issue...
A few years back, some animal rights activists 'rescued' some mink from a farm in the UK. They released them into the wild, where they destroyed the ecosystem in local rivers, destroying habitats and local wildlife. The rivers are just recovering after lots of money and was spent on hunting down mink and captive breeding native wildlife. 'Releasing' animals does need to be done carefully.
I'm not sure where I read this (probably on the back of an oatmeal packet), but I recall something about Silkworms having been bred for so many centuries that they're no longer able to live without the assistance of humans. That could be hearsay, but can anyone verify that for me?
Cultivated silkworm moths need mulberries to survive. Otherwise, the silkworm hatches and they die if they don't have mulberry trees around.
I want to raise silkworms now, i mean its SO cool and at first i thought it was mean to kill the animals but now...does any one have a mullberry tree????
Yes I read just a few moments ago that silkworms aren't a risk for the environment because of their reliance on human cultivation...It's a little sad...they can't fly anymore! ...By the way...I think they are sooo cute. Think I might try an make some hurt-free silk myself.