TEXAS – [28.01.10] Non-profit organisation Organic Exchange (OE), has said the allegations of major fraud in the organic cotton sector as outlined in the German edition of the Financial Times are ‘unfounded’.

The article, published on Friday January 22, 2010, stated “not every product that is labelled as organic cotton is truly organic.” Printed under the banner headline of “Label Scandal,” it claims that H&M, C&A and Tschibo sold India-sourced certified organic textiles “knowing that there were traces of GMO cotton in them.”

Organic Exchange believes those allegations to be without merit.

Organic cotton production standards specifically prohibit the use of GMO material, and according to LaRhea Pepper, OE Senior Director when a crop is grown organically, it means that the farmer has followed all the principles and systems of organic farming. However, Pepper sates that in some cases, a very small amount of GMO contamination may occur due to factors outside of the farmer’s control such as cross-pollination from other GMO crops growing close to organic cotton fields.

It’s common practise for organic cotton certifiers to conduct tests on plant, seed or soil to ensure that any pesticide residues and/or GMO’s are below a fine “tolerance” level and do not indicate deliberate fraud or carelessness on the part of the farmer. If there is any contamination of GMO material in certified organic cotton, it would likely be the result of pollination from GMO cotton plants or contamination in the gins or mills where cotton products are produced.

“Organic farming brings many social and environmental benefits; eliminating the use of harmful and toxic chemicals, reducing the cycles of debt that farmers - particularly marginalized ones in countries such as India find themselves in – and contributing to healthy ecosystems that benefit farmers and their communities,” says Pepper. “Consumers should continue to support the organic farmers working so hard worldwide to provide organic fibre and food.”

While Organic Exchange was interviewed for the article, its responses were ignored, according to Pepper. “For example, the article cites a nonexistent ‘internal OE report’ as stating that up to 30% of organic cotton is probably contaminated with GMO. No such report exists at Organic Exchange.”

Organic Exchange also claims that the FT article “infers that certain certifiers knowingly certified cotton as being organic, when they knew that GMO seed had been used.

“In fact, while APEDA, the organisation that regulates organic production in India, sanctioned two certifiers for non-conformities in their certification processes, the companies immediately made the needed changes and the sanctions were subsequently lifted by APEDA.

The two certifiers sanctioned were Control Union and EcoCert.

“In all systems there is a set of checks and balances, and the fact that APEDA uncovered problems is as much an indication that the monitoring system is working as it is an indication of the problems themselves. It is important to support the continued improvement of regulations, certification and enforcement, especially in such a young industry,” noted Pepper.