ISO/IWA 32:2019—GMOs In Cotton And Textiles

Commonly used in cotton production and in the textile industry, genetically modified organism (GMO) cotton plants are used to create cotton fiber for clothing and other materials. In fact, more than 97% of U.S.-grown cotton is GMO. ISO/IWA 32:2019—Screening Of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) In Cotton And Textiles establishes requirements and recommendations to laboratories that perform GMO analyses in cotton and textiles.

GMO Cotton Plants

Genetic engineering (GE) is a key component of modern agricultural biotechnology. It enables a precise alteration of a plant’s traits to produce characteristics that are otherwise not possible from traditional plant breeding. Commercially introduced in the United States In 1995, GE cotton has become rapidly and increasingly popular in the years that followed. Today currently commercially available GMO varieties of cotton are generally engineered for one of two traits or for both at once:

• Herbicide Tolerance: herbicide-tolerant GMOs are crops engineered to withstand applications of certain weedkillers (glyphosate is the most common one).
• Pest Resistant: pest-resistant GM cotton is engineered with a gene from the bacteria Bacillus thurengiensis or “Bt,” and is called Bt cotton. BT cotton is genetically engineered to produce a toxin that kills the bollworm, one of cotton’s primary pests.
• Some GM cotton is stacked with both herbicide resistance and insect resistance traits.

What Is ISO/IWA 32?

ISO/IWA 32:2019 provides requirements and recommendations to laboratories that perform genetically modified organism (GMO) analyses in cottonseed, leaf, cotton fiber, and cotton fiber-derived materials.  The following are within the scope of this document:

1. Identifying the materials to be assessed, based on the probability of obtaining good quality, fit for purpose DNA from the materials in subsequent steps in the cotton cloth production process
2. Specifying a method for efficient DNA isolation from cotton and cotton-derived materials described under point 1.
3. Specifying the cotton-specific method(s) to be used as control for amplifiable DNA
4. Specifying the screening procedure that provides optimal chances to detect GMOs as a result of the performance of the lowest number of genetically modified (GM) element screening assays

ISO/IWA 32:2019 is intended for non-GM cotton and textiles production lines, but it can be applied to any production line that wants to check the presence of GM cotton.

What Countries Are the Largest Producers of GM Cotton?

India is the largest grower of GM cotton, followed by the United States, China, and Pakistan. Other countries that grow much smaller amounts of GM cotton include Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Burma, Sudan, Mexico, South Africa, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Eswatini.

Cotton Is Not Only for Textiles

Did you know cotton might have factored into the food you consume? This is because besides being used for cotton fibers to be harvested for textiles, cottonseed is used in animal feed. Due to its high fat and protein content, cottonseed is a common supplement for cattle, sheep, and goats. It can be used, for example, to supplement poor quality hay for dry and lactating cows as well as to increase milk output and butterfat in early-lactation dairy cows. In other words, if you eat meat or dairy, cottonseed likely plays a key role in how your food is produced. 

ISO/IWA 32:2019—Screening Of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) In Cotton And Textiles is available on the ANSI Webstore.