Consumer confidence in organic cotton is at risk: the German edition of the Financial Times uncovered a suspected fraud conducted by leading European clothing brands such as H&M, C&A and Tchibo. They have unknowingly been selling certified organic cotton contaminated with genetically modified cotton from India.
The Financial Times carried out an independent testing and found out that "around 30% of the tested samples contained genetically modified (GM) cotton", according to Lothar Kruse, director of the testing laboratory Impetus in Bremerhaven, who examined the cotton fabrics.

The GM traces seem to be originated in India, which now supplies nearly half of the global supply of organic cotton, www.ecouterre.com reports. As a matter of fact India produced 61% of the total amount of organic cotton produced in 2008/09 (according to Organic Exchange figures to be released shortly) with some 107,000 tonnes of fibre out of the total 175,113 tonnes grown worldwide.

Indian authorities seem to have discovered the alleged fraud already in April 2009, imposing fines on third party certification agencies EcoCert and Control Union, although no statements have yet been issued by these organisations.

The brands involved in the alleged fraud have been criticised for not adequately monitoring their supplies: immediate action to limit the damage was requested by Monika Buening of the Federal Consumer Affairs Agency.

The Swedish clothing chain H&M admitted that GM cotton could have made it into H&M’s organic range as a spokesperson told news agency AFP that the company became aware of the incident last year.