By Arriana McLymore
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Traces of banned Chinese cotton were found in 19% of a sample of goods sold at U.S. retailers last year, a study showed, highlighting the challenges of complying with U.S. law aimed at blocking cotton imports linked to forced labor in China.
In the study released Tuesday, researchers from natural resources analysis firm Stratum Reservoir and isotope testing firm Applied DNA Sciences analyzed samples of clothing, cotton swabs and shoes from major U.S. retailers and e-commerce platforms that ship goods to the USA. Name the retailers whose merchandise they tested.
Scientists used isotope tests, which can link cotton to specific geographic areas, analyzing the concentration of stable elements such as carbon and hydrogen present in both the crop and the environment in which it was grown, experts say. They tested the merchandise for traces of cotton originating from Xinjiang, the far western region of China.
The US enacted a law in 2021 to safeguard its market from products potentially tainted by human rights violations in Xinjiang, where the US government says China is committing genocide against Uyghur Muslims.
China denies abuses in Xinjiang, a major cotton producer that also supplies much of the world’s materials for solar panels.
BECAUSE IT’S IMPORTANT
For years, lawmakers and trade organizations have tried to keep products made with forced labor out of the U.S. supply chain. But the study shows that the new law is not necessarily effective.
A federal report published in 2022 estimated that Xinjiang cotton accounted for about 87% of China’s production and 23% of global supply in 2020 and 2021. Countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh – some of the world’s largest apparel producers and consumption of cotton goods – they still import large quantities of finished fabrics from China. It then often arrives in the U.S. in the form of apparel made by suppliers in those countries, according to the report.
BY THE NUMBERS
Of the 822 products tested, 19% contained traces of cotton from Xinjiang, the researchers said. The study tested a sample of items from February 2023 to March 2024.
Of the items that tested positive for Xinjiang cotton, 57% had labels that claimed the merchandise was only U.S. in origin, the researchers said.
Of the items that tested positive for Xinjiang cotton, two-thirds showed that the cotton had been mixed with cotton and materials from regions outside Xinjiang, they said.
One of the two companies, Applied DNA Sciences, declined to comment on which brands and retailers it analyzed. He stated that he purchased products within the US and from e-commerce brands that ship to the country.
(Reporting by Arriana McLymore in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
