Cotton

History of Cotton
No one knows exactly when or where the cotton plant was born. However, it is believed that cotton clothed people in India, Egypt, Peru and Mexico almost 5000 years ago. Read on to know the history of cotton, which is also referred to as 'White Gold'...

How to Grow Cotton
Cotton plant requires warm climatic conditions, rich soil and timely watering for good harvest. Read on to know more on how to grow cotton.

History Of Cotton Gin
A cotton gin is a machine that can quickly separate cotton seeds from the fiber. The seeds that are separated can be used again to grow cotton, unless they are damaged. The following lines will showcase the history of cotton gin.

How does the Cotton Gin Work
One of the two earliest machines that revised human history, the cotton gin, alongside the spinning jenny, ushered in the Industrial Revolution. The machine was simple in operation but triggered the first automated production of cotton yarn, which was much faster than the extensive human intervention required earlier...

Sustainable Fashion: Polyester Vs Cotton
Will consumers demand dictate sustainable fashion or will the textile industry continue being a major contributor of global warming?

Recycled Cotton Saves Land, Water, and Energy
Ecology-minded textile experts have come up with a couple methods of lessening the impact of cotton farming and textile processing on the environment.

What are Organic and Fairtrade Cotton Clothes?
Organic and Fairtrade Cotton Clothes are becoming increasingly popular as green lifestyles mean people are looking for eco friendly clothes.

Organic Cotton: An Environmentally Sound Choice for Many Reasons
Products manufactured from organic cotton are becoming increasingly popular among environmentally conscious consumers.

A Hardline on Cotton
Western companies are knowingly profiting from child labour in the central Asian cotton industry, writes Tobias Webb.

Child Labour Widespread in Asian Cotton Fields
Forced labour and other human rights abuses are common in the cotton fields of central Asia, according to findings published by the International Crisis Group.

US Illegally Paid $1.5bn to Farmers
The United States illegally subsidised its cotton farmers to the tune of $1.5bn (£790m), the World Trade Organisation ruled yesterday.

Africans Warn Eu on Cotton Reform
Agriculture ministers meeting in Brussels this week are facing charges of hypocrisy over their attempts to reform Europe's highly subsidised cotton sector.

Africa Calls for End to Cotton Subsidies
Cotton today emerged as an early flashpoint at the WTO trade summit in Cancun, Mexico, as four African countries called for an end to cotton subsidies in rich countries. Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali last night submitted a document to the conference describing the damage the four...

Cotton Farmers' Poverty Laid at Door of Us
African leaders to challenge Bush over 'ruinous' trade practices. African leaders are expected to give George Bush's tour a rocky start today by blaming US trade practices for impoverishing millions of farmers across the continent.

Child cotton slaves of an Asian tyranny
When the school summer holidays begin, Shamsiddin will get up at 4am and work the fields with his bare hands until dusk. His hands will bleed from tugging at the cotton plants, his back will ache, and he will be inhaling the fertilisers and pesticides that locals say kill even rats.

GM Cotton Doubles Yield in India Trials
Genetically modified cotton produced almost double the yield in field trials in India, German and US scientists said today. The scientists reported that experiments on 157 farms in three cotton-producing states showed that Bt cotton, which is resistant to boll weevil attack, needed 70%...

New Delhi Opens Door to Gm Crops
India, the world's largest grower of cotton, has opened its doors to genetically modified varieties after a four-year rearguard battle by academics and farmers' groups who fear that this will lead to hundreds of thousands of poor farmers being forced off the land. New Delhi's Genetic...