To promote organic cotton and its proper marketing within the country, the Japan Organic Cotton Association (JOCA) has been making efforts to promote certification, eco-friendly manufacturing methods, and recycling systems for cotton products.

Since it is difficult to judge by look or touch whether or not cotton is organic, only the cotton organically grown in certified fields is approved as organic cotton. The certification is conducted by certifying authorities based on standards in producing countries. In Japan, high production costs have prevented the establishment of cotton plantations as a domestic industry, leaving the country totally dependent on imports.

As a result, to confirm that raw cotton imported to Japan is truly organic cotton, documents issued by certifying authorities in grower countries must be examined and approved as true and correct. Among its many roles, the JOCA examines and approves these documents, and certifies under Japanese standards that cotton products are processed here and manufactured without using chemicals.

Other activities of the JOCA include participating in the annual Eco Products Exhibition,* as well as running an annual sales campaign of "Artist T-shirts" in which the JOCA produces and sells 10 original design T-shirts made of organic cotton. This has been made possible thanks to 50 artists worldwide who support the JOCA's vision to raise the share of raw cotton in world production from less than 0.1 percent today to at least 10 percent in the near future.

* The Eco Products Exhibition is cosponsored by the Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry and Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper. The website for the Eco Products Exhibition is http://www.eco-pro.com/.

http://www.joca.gr.jp/english/index.html

Posted: 2005/01/16 11:00:28 AM
Japanese version

TAG Chemicals , Ecosystem , NGO/Citizen , System/Law