 THE DILEMMa I have noticed that there is a lot of bamboo in eco clothing and towels, but I have also read something that suggests it isn't very green to use bamboo in these products. I try to run an ethical household, is bamboo something I should buy?  Materials that scream "ethical" give me a headache. Especially bamboo. The introduction of this super-fast-growing grass into UK homes in the form of plates, bowls, paint brushes, bathroom towels and bedlinen was accompanied by much loud noise about its eco credentials. Bamboo textiles, in particular, were explicitly labelled as eco, green and/or good for the planet, suggesting that your towels or yoga leggings could single-handedly halt climate change.  Then last year regulators in the US and Canada stopped the party. They ordered the re-labelling of some 450,000 clothing and textile products from the marketable "eco-friendly" bamboo to the less-appealing "rayon". Less appealing from a green point of view because producing rayon, aka viscose, is a highly polluting activity. Under the microscope scientists could see no difference between "bamboo" products and viscose, where the finished fibre is extruded from cellulose by applying a large amount of chemicals and results in hazardous air pollutants.  Bamboo's eco credentials were in tatters. But this is unfair. as a material it has big plus points. Lately, product designers Kenneth Cobonpue and albrecht Birkner have used it to make a lightweight concept car, the Phoenix, which surely deserves to wear an eco tag. The bamboo is woven 