Coimbatore, Oct 12: A survey carried out by the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) has pointed out that 26 per cent of all cotton varieties were seriously or moderately contaminated and there was by and large an increase in overall contamination level. Cotton varieties evaluated in 2003 revealed that eight per cent of all cases were found to be seriously contaminated by 16 different sources of foreign matter, as against six per cent in 2001, the ITMF survey said. Further 18 per cent (16 in 2001) were moderately contaminated, while 74 per cent (78 in 2001) were insignificant or not contaminated. As the summary data was arithmetic averages, the extent of contamination could be fully illustrated only by the results of individual contaminants, which ranged from six per cent for 'tar' (unchanged from 2001) to a full 50 per cent of all cotton varieties processed either moderately or seriously contaminated by 'organic matter' like leaves, feather, paper, leather (up from 39 per cent in 2001), it pointed out.
Foreign matter, stickiness and seed-coat fragments in raw cotton were the most serious problems affecting the cotton spinning industry worldwide.
Other serious contaminants were strings made of jute/hessian, cotton and woven plastic, 'inorganic matter' in the form of sand or dust and cotton or jute/hessian fabrics. The most contaminated descriptions continued to originate from India, Turkey and central Asia, while in contrast, clean cotton varieties originated from the US, Zimbabwe and select west African origins, the survey said.
Bureau Report