A cotton fiber carries a record of where it grew. Soil and water leave elemental traces that survive spinning, weaving, dyeing, and shipping. Two American companies have built a business reading that record. On Aug. 5, Beijing barred every organization and individual in China from working with either of them.
The move came five days after Washington expanded its forced labor import ban to cover 43 more Chinese companies.
Applied DNA Sciences and Stratum Reservoir were among six U.S. entities placed on China’s countermeasures list for assisting U.S. sanctions related to the region of Xinjiang. The other four were an audit network, a supply chain mapping firm, an industry standards body, and a rights group. …
Beijing Sanctions 2 US Labs That Can Prove Where Cotton Grew
