A groundbreaking Applied DNA Sciences/Supima program designed to verify a fiber’s provenance could pave the way for authentication methods for cotton and other textile industries.

In the market for luxury cotton sheets but can’t see or feel the difference? Looking for top-of-the-line cotton apparel but just don’t trust those “100% cotton” tags? Get a little help – from DNA!

Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (APDN) is a provider of DNA-based security solutions. Supima® is the promotional organization of the American Pima cotton growers. In July 2007, they set out on a joint fiber authentication program with the aim of preserving the Pima brand’s reputation as the finest cotton in the world. APDN embarked on a feasibility study funded by Supima to establish authentication methodologies to confirm the Supima cotton content of branded apparel and home fashion products.

Such technologies will have implications for both Supima (of the over 115 million bales of cotton harvested each year around the world, less than one percent qualify to carry the Supima name), as well as the future of all US cotton (approximately 19 million bales in 2007-2008). Early this year, APDN announced that it has successfully achieved the goals set out in the program and accomplish what we believe no other group has been able to do: successfully amplify DNA from mature cotton cultivars. APDN scientists were able to develop new extraction protocols which improved DNA isolation more than one thousand times over the traditional forensic methods, giving them the ability to differentiate between Pima and upland cotton.

According to Dr. James Hayward, President and CEO of Applied DNA Sciences, "Remarkably, the cell walls of cotton are so protective, that the DNA markers may still be detected in finished textiles that have been extensively laundered. We believe that the findings to-date may also have utility for other textile industries throughout the world and could assist governments looking for a quantifiable means of regulating the importation of foreign textiles into their countries.” APDN has already begun to explore the use of these findings in various different venues.
 
APDN anticipates a successful final phase of the feasibility study and subsequent groundbreaking authentication methods that can distinguish between American Pima cotton cultivars and other types of cotton. The development of genetic methods to identify the cotton fiber content of finished textiles could have global significance: license holders would now be better able to control their brands and governments can improve their ability to enforce compliance with trade agreements between nations.