Toxic neoprene Is there a wetsuit that doesn't harm the planet?

Neoprene, the material used to keep swimmers and surfers toasty in the winter, is often manufactured using some of the most toxic chemicals on the planet.

- Anna Turns

A synthetic foamed rubber, it is made from the petrochemical compound chloroprene. Exposure to chloroprene emissions, produced during the manufacturing process, may increase the risk of cancer, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

For the past three years, the filmmakers Chris Nelson and Lewis Arnold have been investigating surfing's links to the human health impacts of chloroprene manufacturing. Their documentary about the world's toxic addiction to neoprene, The Big Sea, is due to be screened at film festivals worldwide from June.

"As surfers, we've been consuming neoprene for five decades, but Lewis and I both felt that we hadn't been told the truth about where [our wetsuits] came from and what they were made of," Nelson says.

For the film they travelled to the heavily polluted US region known as Cancer Alley, an area of Louisiana along the Mississippi River where smoke stacks fill the skyline. The air is so toxic here that the cancer risk is 50 times higher than the national average, according to the EPA. The nearby plant run by the Japanese chemical company Denka makes several forms of chloroprene, but is not breaking any state laws. While editing the film, Nelson says, he received "a spectrum of responses" from wetsuit companies. A few are phasing out neoprene, he says, but some have not engaged with the issue at all.