Traces of banned Chinese cotton found in 19% of U.S. retailers' merchandise, study shows

Traces of banned Chinese cotton were found in 19 per cent of a sample of merchandise selling at U.S. retailers in the past year, a study showed, highlighting the challenges of complying with the U.S. law aimed at blocking imports of cotton linked to forced labour in China. In the study released on Tuesday, researchers from natural resource analytics firm Stratum Reservoir and isotope testing firm Applied DNA Sciences analyzed garment samples, cotton swabs and shoes from U.S. big box retailers and e-commerce platforms that ship merchandise into the U.S. The firms declined to name the retailers whose merchandise they…