Different Uses Of Cotton

The most obvious use of cotton is, of course, textiles and apparel. Next come home furnishings and medical supplies. But this is just the tip of the iceberg, a mere fraction of the many ways cotton is a part of our lives.

Thanks to modern technology, cotton has been heavily, but successfully experimented upon. Today, cotton fabric is specifically used to make fire-proof apparel suitable for professional uses (firemen, metal workmen, etc.) and also to make medical and hygienic products. Hydrophile cotton (cotton wool), compress, gauze bandages, tampons or sanitary towels, and cotton swabs are all made from specially processed and treated cotton, usually of the short-staple variety.

But that’s not where the story ends. According to the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Burkina Faso: "... In China…, one does not make any more dyes. China uses transgenic cotton plants which produce yellow, white, green, or red cotton; to sum up, any customised colour grade...".

Let’s talk about the cottonseed next. Cotton seed oil from the cotton plant has several food applications in many West and Central African countries. What’s more, in a refined form it can be found in soaps and cosmetics as well. The hulls, on the other hand, are used to provide roughage in animal feed and the remains of the seed after oil extraction double up as flours for livestock feed!

Is there no end to what cotton can do for us? Apparently not. Sturdy fishnets, lazy hammocks, coffee filters, tents and so many other eclectic things need cotton to exist. Interestingly the first Chinese paper was made of cotton fiber, as is the modern U.S. dollar bill and federal stationery. 

What else?
What not.