Cotton

context: The fiber is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile. The use of cotton for fabric is known to date to prehistoric times; fragments of cotton fabric dated from 5000 BC have been excavated in Mexico and the Indus Valley Civilization in Ancient India (modern-day Pakistan and some parts of India). Although cultivated since antiquity, it was the invention of the cotton gin that lowered the cost of production that led to its widespread use, and it is the most widely used natural fiber cloth in clothing today.
qas: answers: fabric
question: What is the most frequent use of cotton?

answers: 5000 BC
question: To what date has cotton been dated?

answers: Indus Valley
question: Where in India has cotton been found from prehistoric times?

answers: Mexico
question: In what Central American country has cotton use been found from early times?

answers: cotton gin
question: What machinery has lead to the  easily made and widespread use of cotton?

context: The earliest evidence of cotton use in South Asia has been found at the site of Mehrgarh, Pakistan, where cotton threads have been found preserved in copper beads; these finds have been dated to Neolithic (between 6000 and 5000 BCE). Cotton cultivation in the region is dated to the Indus Valley Civilization, which covered parts of modern eastern Pakistan and northwestern India between 3300 and 1300 BCE The Indus cotton industry was well-developed and some methods used in cotton spinning and fabrication continued to be used until the industrialization of India. Between 2000 and 1000 BC cotton became widespread across much of India. For example, it has been found at the site of Hallus in Karnataka dating from around 1000 BC.
qas: answers: Mehrgarh, Pakistan
question: Where in Southeast Asia has early use of cotton been discovered?

answers: Neolithic
question: To what period has cotton been dated in Pakistan?

answers: 3300 and 1300 BCE
question: When did the Indus Valley Civilization cover parts of India and Pakistan?

answers: industrialization
question: Until what event did the ancient methods of spinning and fabrication of cotton last?

answers: 2000 and 1000 BC
question: During what time did cotton become widely used in India?

context: In Iran (Persia), the history of cotton dates back to the Achaemenid era (5th century BC); however, there are few sources about the planting of cotton in pre-Islamic Iran. The planting of cotton was common in Merv, Ray and Pars of Iran. In Persian poets' poems, especially Ferdowsi's Shahname, there are references to cotton ("panbe" in Persian). Marco Polo (13th century) refers to the major products of Persia, including cotton. John Chardin, a French traveler of the 17th century who visited the Safavid Persia, spoke approvingly of the vast cotton farms of Persia.
qas: answers: Achaemenid era
question: Use of cotton in Iran dates back to what period?

answers: 5th century BC
question: When was the Achaemenid era?

answers: Persian poets' poems
question: In what source can references to cotton be found in Iran?

answers: Marco Polo
question: What 13th century explorer saw cotton in Persia?

answers: John Chardin
question: What Frenchman in the 17th century noted cotton farming in Persia?

context: Though known since antiquity the commercial growing of cotton in Egypt only started in 1820's, following a Frenchman, by the name of M. Jumel, propositioning the then ruler, Mohamed Ali Pasha, that he could earn a substantial income by growing an extra-long staple Maho (Barbadence) cotton, in Lower Egypt, for the French market. Mohamed Ali Pasha accepted the proposition and granted himself the monopoly on the sale and export of cotton in Egypt; and later dictated cotton should be grown in preference to other crops. By the time of the American Civil war annual exports had reached $16 million (120,000 bales), which rose to $56 million by 1864, primarily due to the loss of the Confederate supply on the world market. Exports continued to grow even after the reintroduction of US cotton, produced now by a paid workforce, and Egyptian exports reached 1.2 million bales a year by 1903.
qas: answers: 1820's,
question: When did cotton begin to be commercially grown in Egypt?

answers: M. Jumel
question: What French businessman convinced the ruler of Egypt to grow cotton for the French market?

answers: Mohamed Ali Pasha
question: Who was ruler of Egypt in the 1820s?

answers: $56 million
question: How high had cotton revenues risen by the time of the American Civil War?

answers: 1.2 million bales a year
question: How many bales of cotton were produced by Egypt by 1903?

context: During the late medieval period, cotton became known as an imported fiber in northern Europe, without any knowledge of how it was derived, other than that it was a plant. Because Herodotus had written in his Histories, Book III, 106, that in India trees grew in the wild producing wool, it was assumed that the plant was a tree, rather than a shrub. This aspect is retained in the name for cotton in several Germanic languages, such as German Baumwolle, which translates as "tree wool" (Baum means "tree"; Wolle means "wool"). Noting its similarities to wool, people in the region could only imagine that cotton must be produced by plant-borne sheep. John Mandeville, writing in 1350, stated as fact the now-preposterous belief: "There grew there [India] a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they are hungrie  [sic]." (See Vegetable Lamb of Tartary.) By the end of the 16th century, cotton was cultivated throughout the warmer regions in Asia and the Americas.
qas: answers: imported fiber
question: In the late medieval period in Europe as what was cotton viewed?

answers: John Mandeville
question: What 1350 writer stated that cotton was produced by sheep that grew on trees?

answers: Herodotus
question: What ancient writer gave later eras the idea that cotton might be a tree?

answers: 16th century
question: By the end of what century was cotton grown in the Americas and Asia?

answers: similarities to wool
question: Why was it easy for people to believe that cotton grew on sheep that grew in plants?

context: India's cotton-processing sector gradually declined during British expansion in India and the establishment of colonial rule during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This was largely due to aggressive colonialist mercantile policies of the British East India Company, which made cotton processing and manufacturing workshops in India uncompetitive. Indian markets were increasingly forced to supply only raw cotton and, by British-imposed law, to purchase manufactured textiles from Britain.[citation needed]
qas: answers: declined
question: How did British rule effect Indian cotton processing?

answers: late 18th and early 19th
question: During what centuries did British rule effect Indian cotton production?

answers: British East India Company
question: What British business's policies damaged the Indian cotton industry?

answers: raw cotton
question: What cotton products did British law mandate that India was allowed to sell?

answers: Britain
question: If instead of producing fabrics, where was India forced to purchase cotton products?

context: The advent of the Industrial Revolution in Britain provided a great boost to cotton manufacture, as textiles emerged as Britain's leading export. In 1738, Lewis Paul and John Wyatt, of Birmingham, England, patented the roller spinning machine, as well as the flyer-and-bobbin system for drawing cotton to a more even thickness using two sets of rollers that traveled at different speeds. Later, the invention of the James Hargreaves' spinning jenny in 1764, Richard Arkwright's spinning frame in 1769 and Samuel Crompton's spinning mule in 1775 enabled British spinners to produce cotton yarn at much higher rates. From the late 18th century on, the British city of Manchester acquired the nickname "Cottonopolis" due to the cotton industry's omnipresence within the city, and Manchester's role as the heart of the global cotton trade.
qas: answers: Industrial Revolution
question: What event produced an expansion of the British cotton industry?

answers: 1738
question: When was a new spinning machine patented that boosted cotton production?

answers: spinning jenny
question: What device did James Hargreaves invent?

answers: spinning mule
question: What was Samuel Crompton's invention of 1775?

answers: Manchester
question: Whic British city was nicknamed "Cottonopolis" because of its cotton production?

context: Production capacity in Britain and the United States was improved by the invention of the cotton gin by the American Eli Whitney in 1793. Before the development of cotton gins, the cotton fibers had to be pulled from the seeds tediously by hand. By the late 1700s a number of crude ginning machines had been developed. However, to produce a bale of cotton required over 600 hours of human labor, making large-scale production uneconomical in the United States, even with the use of humans as slave labor. The gin that Whitney manufactured (the Holmes design) reduced the hours down to just a dozen or so per bale. Although Whitney patented his own design for a cotton gin, he manufactured a prior design from Henry Odgen Holmes, for which Holmes filed a patent in 1796. Improving technology and increasing control of world markets allowed British traders to develop a commercial chain in which raw cotton fibers were (at first) purchased from colonial plantations, processed into cotton cloth in the mills of Lancashire, and then exported on British ships to captive colonial markets in West Africa, India, and China (via Shanghai and Hong Kong).
qas: answers: cotton gin
question: What invention improved the cotton industry in both America and Britain?

answers: Eli Whitney
question: What American invented the cotton gin?

answers: by hand
question: Before the use of the cotton gin, how was cotton separated?

answers: commercial chain
question: What business development did the British use to establish a hold on the global cotton market?

answers: colonial markets
question: From what source was raw cotton first bought and later resold?

context: By the 1840s, India was no longer capable of supplying the vast quantities of cotton fibers needed by mechanized British factories, while shipping bulky, low-price cotton from India to Britain was time-consuming and expensive. This, coupled with the emergence of American cotton as a superior type (due to the longer, stronger fibers of the two domesticated native American species, Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense), encouraged British traders to purchase cotton from plantations in the United States and plantations in the Caribbean. By the mid-19th century, "King Cotton" had become the backbone of the southern American economy. In the United States, cultivating and harvesting cotton became the leading occupation of slaves.
qas: answers: longer, stronger fibers
question: What was the difference that made American cotton preferred over Indian cotton?

answers: India
question: In the 1840s, what country could no longer adequately supply the British cotton mills?

answers: Caribbean
question: Besides buying from the American plantations, where else in the western hemisphere did Britain buy cotton?

answers: mid-19th century
question: By what time had cotton become prominent in the American economy of the south?

answers: King Cotton
question: What was cotton called in the 19th century?

context: During the American Civil War, American cotton exports slumped due to a Union blockade on Southern ports, and also because of a strategic decision by the Confederate government to cut exports, hoping to force Britain to recognize the Confederacy or enter the war. This prompted the main purchasers of cotton, Britain and France, to turn to Egyptian cotton. British and French traders invested heavily in cotton plantations. The Egyptian government of Viceroy Isma'il took out substantial loans from European bankers and stock exchanges. After the American Civil War ended in 1865, British and French traders abandoned Egyptian cotton and returned to cheap American exports,[citation needed] sending Egypt into a deficit spiral that led to the country declaring bankruptcy in 1876, a key factor behind Egypt's occupation by the British Empire in 1882.
qas: answers: Union blockade
question: What action of the Union damaged the southern cotton exports?

answers: American Civil War
question: When did the American cotton industry fail?

answers: Egyptian
question: To what county's cotton did European buyers turn due to the American Civil War?

answers: cheap
question: What characteristic of American cotton attracted buyers after the end of the Civil war?

answers: bankruptcy
question: What did the abandonment of Egyptian cotton mean to the Egyptian economy?

context: Cotton remained a key crop in the Southern economy after emancipation and the end of the Civil War in 1865. Across the South, sharecropping evolved, in which landless black and white farmers worked land owned by others in return for a share of the profits. Some farmers rented the land and bore the production costs themselves. Until mechanical cotton pickers were developed, cotton farmers needed additional labor to hand-pick cotton. Picking cotton was a source of income for families across the South. Rural and small town school systems had split vacations so children could work in the fields during "cotton-picking."
qas: answers: sharecropping
question: What was the procedure called which involved workers to work for a share of the profits? 

answers: hand-pick
question: What difficulty in harvesting cotton required a large labor force?

answers: children
question: Besides adults what segment of the southern US population was involved in the harvesting of cotton?

answers: split vacations
question: What function of southern schools was created for children to pick cotton?

answers: landless
question: What part of the southern population worked as sharecroppers?

context: Successful cultivation of cotton requires a long frost-free period, plenty of sunshine, and a moderate rainfall, usually from 600 to 1,200 mm (24 to 47 in). Soils usually need to be fairly heavy, although the level of nutrients does not need to be exceptional. In general, these conditions are met within the seasonally dry tropics and subtropics in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, but a large proportion of the cotton grown today is cultivated in areas with less rainfall that obtain the water from irrigation. Production of the crop for a given year usually starts soon after harvesting the preceding autumn. Cotton is naturally a perennial but is grown as an annual to help control pests. Planting time in spring in the Northern hemisphere varies from the beginning of February to the beginning of June. The area of the United States known as the South Plains is the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world. While dryland (non-irrigated) cotton is successfully grown in this region, consistent yields are only produced with heavy reliance on irrigation water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer. Since cotton is somewhat salt and drought tolerant, this makes it an attractive crop for arid and semiarid regions. As water resources get tighter around the world, economies that rely on it face difficulties and conflict, as well as potential environmental problems. For example, improper cropping and irrigation practices have led to desertification in areas of Uzbekistan, where cotton is a major export. In the days of the Soviet Union, the Aral Sea was tapped for agricultural irrigation, largely of cotton, and now salination is widespread.
qas: answers: 600 to 1,200 mm
question: What is the optimum amount of rainfall for cotton growth?

answers: heavy
question: In what soil type does cotton prefer to grow ?

answers: control pests
question: Why is cotton grown as an annual crop?

answers: South Plains
question: Where in the US is considered the best place to grow cotton on Earth?

answers: salt and drought
question: What type of tolerances make cotton an ideal crop for semiarid areas?

context: Genetically modified (GM) cotton was developed to reduce the heavy reliance on pesticides. The bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) naturally produces a chemical harmful only to a small fraction of insects, most notably the larvae of moths and butterflies, beetles, and flies, and harmless to other forms of life. The gene coding for Bt toxin has been inserted into cotton, causing cotton, called Bt cotton, to produce this natural insecticide in its tissues. In many regions, the main pests in commercial cotton are lepidopteran larvae, which are killed by the Bt protein in the transgenic cotton they eat. This eliminates the need to use large amounts of broad-spectrum insecticides to kill lepidopteran pests (some of which have developed pyrethroid resistance). This spares natural insect predators in the farm ecology and further contributes to noninsecticide pest management.
qas: answers: pesticides
question: To stop reliance on what was GM cotton developed?

answers: Genetically modified
question: What form of cotton is GM?

answers: Bacillus thuringiensis
question: What bacterium is used to produced GM cotton?

answers: noninsecticide
question: What farming pest management technique does the use of GM grown plants promote?

answers: larvae
question: What part of the life cycle of moths does Bt toxin effect?

context: But Bt cotton is ineffective against many cotton pests, however, such as plant bugs, stink bugs, and aphids; depending on circumstances it may still be desirable to use insecticides against these. A 2006 study done by Cornell researchers, the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy and the Chinese Academy of Science on Bt cotton farming in China found that after seven years these secondary pests that were normally controlled by pesticide had increased, necessitating the use of pesticides at similar levels to non-Bt cotton and causing less profit for farmers because of the extra expense of GM seeds. However, a 2009 study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Stanford University and Rutgers University refuted this. They concluded that the GM cotton effectively controlled bollworm. The secondary pests were mostly miridae (plant bugs) whose increase was related to local temperature and rainfall and only continued to increase in half the villages studied. Moreover, the increase in insecticide use for the control of these secondary insects was far smaller than the reduction in total insecticide use due to Bt cotton adoption. A 2012 Chinese study concluded that Bt cotton halved the use of pesticides and doubled the level of ladybirds, lacewings and spiders. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) said that, worldwide, GM cotton was planted on an area of 25 million hectares in 2011. This was 69% of the worldwide total area planted in cotton.
qas: answers: 2006
question: In what year did a research study find that the use of Bt toxin plants failed to be effective after 7 years?

answers: temperature and rainfall
question: On what did a 2009 study conclude that increased insects were dependent?

answers: pesticides
question: What did a 2012 study suggest  was halved by the use of GM plants?

answers: ladybirds, lacewings and spiders
question: What did the 2012 study say was doubled by the use of GM cotton?

answers: 69%
question: How much of the Earth's cotton crops are planted in GM cotton?

context: GM cotton acreage in India grew at a rapid rate, increasing from 50,000 hectares in 2002 to 10.6 million hectares in 2011. The total cotton area in India was 12.1 million hectares in 2011, so GM cotton was grown on 88% of the cotton area. This made India the country with the largest area of GM cotton in the world. A long-term study on the economic impacts of Bt cotton in India, published in the Journal PNAS in 2012, showed that Bt cotton has increased yields, profits, and living standards of smallholder farmers. The U.S. GM cotton crop was 4.0 million hectares in 2011 the second largest area in the world, the Chinese GM cotton crop was third largest by area with 3.9 million hectares and Pakistan had the fourth largest GM cotton crop area of 2.6 million hectares in 2011. The initial introduction of GM cotton proved to be a success in Australia – the yields were equivalent to the non-transgenic varieties and the crop used much less pesticide to produce (85% reduction). The subsequent introduction of a second variety of GM cotton led to increases in GM cotton production until 95% of the Australian cotton crop was GM in 2009 making Australia the country with the fifth largest GM cotton crop in the world. Other GM cotton growing countries in 2011 were Argentina, Myanmar, Burkina Faso, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa and Costa Rica.
qas: answers: 10.6 million hectares
question: How much area was planted in India in GM cotton in 2011?

answers: 88%
question: What was the percentage of GM cotton planted in India in 2011?

answers: India
question: Waht country has the largest area of GM cotton on Earth?

answers: second largest
question: At what rank does US GM cotton stand in the world?

answers: 95%
question: What percentage of Australia's cotton crop was GM in 2009?

context: Organic cotton is generally understood as cotton from plants not genetically modified and that is certified to be grown without the use of any synthetic agricultural chemicals, such as fertilizers or pesticides. Its production also promotes and enhances biodiversity and biological cycles. In the United States, organic cotton plantations are required to enforce the National Organic Program (NOP). This institution determines the allowed practices for pest control, growing, fertilizing, and handling of organic crops. As of 2007, 265,517 bales of organic cotton were produced in 24 countries, and worldwide production was growing at a rate of more than 50% per year.
qas: answers: not genetically modified
question: What are organic plants understood to be?

answers: synthetic agricultural chemicals
question: Without what are organic plants meant to be grown ? 

answers: fertilizers or pesticides
question: What is meant by synthetic chemicals?

answers: National Organic Program
question: What group in the US determines the allowed practices in organic agriculture?

answers: 265,517 bales
question: How much organic cotton was produced worldwide in 2007?

context: Historically, in North America, one of the most economically destructive pests in cotton production has been the boll weevil. Due to the US Department of Agriculture's highly successful Boll Weevil Eradication Program (BWEP), this pest has been eliminated from cotton in most of the United States. This program, along with the introduction of genetically engineered Bt cotton (which contains a bacterial gene that codes for a plant-produced protein that is toxic to a number of pests such as cotton bollworm and pink bollworm), has allowed a reduction in the use of synthetic insecticides.
qas: answers: boll weevil
question: What insect is the most destructive pest in cotton growing in the US?

answers: Boll Weevil Eradication Program
question: What program has effectively eliminated the boll weevil in the US?

answers: US Department of Agriculture
question: What is the organization that instigated the Boll Weevil Eradication Program?

answers: Bt cotton
question: What form of cotton contains a genetically modified gene?

answers: synthetic insecticides.
question: On what does the use of Bt cotton reduce reliance?

context: Most cotton in the United States, Europe and Australia is harvested mechanically, either by a cotton picker, a machine that removes the cotton from the boll without damaging the cotton plant, or by a cotton stripper, which strips the entire boll off the plant. Cotton strippers are used in regions where it is too windy to grow picker varieties of cotton, and usually after application of a chemical defoliant or the natural defoliation that occurs after a freeze. Cotton is a perennial crop in the tropics, and without defoliation or freezing, the plant will continue to grow.
qas: answers: mechanically
question: How is most cotton harvested?

answers: cotton picker
question: What is the cotton harvesting machine that removes the boll with damaging the plant?

answers: cotton stripper
question: What machine strips off the entire head of the cotton plant?

answers: windy
question: What weather conditions mandate the planting of stripper types of cotton?

answers: perennial
question: What type of plant is cotton?

context: The era of manufactured fibers began with the development of rayon in France in the 1890s. Rayon is derived from a natural cellulose and cannot be considered synthetic, but requires extensive processing in a manufacturing process, and led the less expensive replacement of more naturally derived materials. A succession of new synthetic fibers were introduced by the chemicals industry in the following decades. Acetate in fiber form was developed in 1924. Nylon, the first fiber synthesized entirely from petrochemicals, was introduced as a sewing thread by DuPont in 1936, followed by DuPont's acrylic in 1944. Some garments were created from fabrics based on these fibers, such as women's hosiery from nylon, but it was not until the introduction of polyester into the fiber marketplace in the early 1950s that the market for cotton came under threat. The rapid uptake of polyester garments in the 1960s caused economic hardship in cotton-exporting economies, especially in Central American countries, such as Nicaragua, where cotton production had boomed tenfold between 1950 and 1965 with the advent of cheap chemical pesticides. Cotton production recovered in the 1970s, but crashed to pre-1960 levels in the early 1990s.
qas: answers: rayon
question: What was the first manufactured fiber?

answers: 1890s
question: When was rayon first made in France?

answers: chemicals industry
question: What type of industry produced a growing chain of synthetic fibers?

answers: DuPont
question: What company produced nylon and acrylic in the 1930s and 1940s?

answers: Nylon
question: What was manufactured completely from petrochemicals?

context: Beginning as a self-help program in the mid-1960s, the Cotton Research and Promotion Program (CRPP) was organized by U.S. cotton producers in response to cotton's steady decline in market share. At that time, producers voted to set up a per-bale assessment system to fund the program, with built-in safeguards to protect their investments. With the passage of the Cotton Research and Promotion Act of 1966, the program joined forces and began battling synthetic competitors and re-establishing markets for cotton. Today, the success of this program has made cotton the best-selling fiber in the U.S. and one of the best-selling fibers in the world.[citation needed]
qas: answers: decline in market share
question: What prompted a help program produced by cotton producers in the 1960s?

answers: Cotton Research and Promotion Act
question: What law was passed in 1966 to aid cotton producers?

answers: synthetic competitors
question: What type of competitors does the 1966 act help combat?

answers: U.S.
question: Where has the Cotton Research and Promotion Act made cotton the best selling fiber?

answers: markets for cotton
question: What did producers of cotton have to re-establish after the market declined?

context: Cotton is used to make a number of textile products. These include terrycloth for highly absorbent bath towels and robes; denim for blue jeans; cambric, popularly used in the manufacture of blue work shirts (from which we get the term "blue-collar"); and corduroy, seersucker, and cotton twill. Socks, underwear, and most T-shirts are made from cotton. Bed sheets often are made from cotton. Cotton also is used to make yarn used in crochet and knitting. Fabric also can be made from recycled or recovered cotton that otherwise would be thrown away during the spinning, weaving, or cutting process. While many fabrics are made completely of cotton, some materials blend cotton with other fibers, including rayon and synthetic fibers such as polyester. It can either be used in knitted or woven fabrics, as it can be blended with elastine to make a stretchier thread for knitted fabrics, and apparel such as stretch jeans.
qas: answers: textile products
question: For what is cotton used to make?

answers: recycled or recovered cotton
question: Besides new cotton fibers, what type of fibers can be used to make cotton products?

answers: synthetic fibers
question: With what is cotton often blended to make a new style of fabric?

answers: knitted or woven
question: What kinds of fabrics can be made from blended fibers?

answers: crochet and knitting
question: For what can cotton yarn be used?

context: The cottonseed which remains after the cotton is ginned is used to produce cottonseed oil, which, after refining, can be consumed by humans like any other vegetable oil. The cottonseed meal that is left generally is fed to ruminant livestock; the gossypol remaining in the meal is toxic to monogastric animals. Cottonseed hulls can be added to dairy cattle rations for roughage. During the American slavery period, cotton root bark was used in folk remedies as an abortifacient, that is, to induce a miscarriage. Gossypol was one of the many substances found in all parts of the cotton plant and it was described by the scientists as 'poisonous pigment'. It also appears to inhibit the development of sperm or even restrict the mobility of the sperm. Also, it is thought to interfere with the menstrual cycle by restricting the release of certain hormones.
qas: answers: cottonseed oil
question: For what is cottonseed used after it is separate from the fibers?

answers: vegetable oil.
question: What product is processed cottonseed oil?

answers: ruminant livestock
question: What is cottonseed meal used for feed?

answers: roughage
question: For what purpose are cottonseed hulls used in feed?

answers: poisonous pigment
question: As what did early scientists describe gossypol ?

context: Cotton linters are fine, silky fibers which adhere to the seeds of the cotton plant after ginning. These curly fibers typically are less than 1⁄8 inch (3.2 mm) long. The term also may apply to the longer textile fiber staple lint as well as the shorter fuzzy fibers from some upland species. Linters are traditionally used in the manufacture of paper and as a raw material in the manufacture of cellulose. In the UK, linters are referred to as "cotton wool". This can also be a refined product (absorbent cotton in U.S. usage) which has medical, cosmetic and many other practical uses. The first medical use of cotton wool was by Sampson Gamgee at the Queen's Hospital (later the General Hospital) in Birmingham, England.
qas: answers: Cotton linters
question: What part of the cotton plant is used for paper manufacture?

answers: fine, silky fibers
question: What do cotton linters look like?

answers: cotton wool
question: What are cotton linters called in the UK?

answers: absorbent cotton
question: What is cotton wool called in the US?

answers: Sampson Gamgee
question: What individual first used cotton wool medically?

context: Cotton lisle is a finely-spun, tightly twisted type of cotton that is noted for being strong and durable. Lisle is composed of two strands that have each been twisted an extra twist per inch than ordinary yarns and combined to create a single thread. The yarn is spun so that it is compact and solid. This cotton is used mainly for underwear, stockings, and gloves. Colors applied to this yarn are noted for being more brilliant than colors applied to softer yarn. This type of thread was first made in the city of Lisle, France (now Lille), hence its name.
qas: answers: Cotton lisle
question: What is a fine, tightly twisted type of cotton fabric?

answers: strong and durable
question: What is lisle considered to be as a fabric?

answers: single thread
question: What does extra twisting of lisle thread produce?

answers: Lisle, France
question: Where was the lisle thread originally made?

answers: more brilliant
question: How is color perceived to be for lisle in comparison to softer yarns? 

context: The largest producers of cotton, currently (2009), are China and India, with annual production of about 34 million bales and 33.4 million bales, respectively; most of this production is consumed by their respective textile industries. The largest exporters of raw cotton are the United States, with sales of $4.9 billion, and Africa, with sales of $2.1 billion. The total international trade is estimated to be $12 billion. Africa's share of the cotton trade has doubled since 1980. Neither area has a significant domestic textile industry, textile manufacturing having moved to developing nations in Eastern and South Asia such as India and China. In Africa, cotton is grown by numerous small holders. Dunavant Enterprises, based in Memphis, Tennessee, is the leading cotton broker in Africa, with hundreds of purchasing agents. It operates cotton gins in Uganda, Mozambique, and Zambia. In Zambia, it often offers loans for seed and expenses to the 180,000 small farmers who grow cotton for it, as well as advice on farming methods. Cargill also purchases cotton in Africa for export.
qas: answers: China and India
question: In 2009 what were the largest producers of cotton?

answers: largest exporters
question: How do the US and Africa rank as exporters of cotton?

answers: $12 billion
question: What is the combined international trade in cotton?

answers: Dunavant Enterprises
question: What company is the top cotton broker in Africa?

answers: Memphis, Tennessee
question: Where is Dunavant Enterprises based?

context: The 25,000 cotton growers in the United States of America are heavily subsidized at the rate of $2 billion per year although China now provides the highest overall level of cotton sector support. The future of these subsidies is uncertain and has led to anticipatory expansion of cotton brokers' operations in Africa. Dunavant expanded in Africa by buying out local operations. This is only possible in former British colonies and Mozambique; former French colonies continue to maintain tight monopolies, inherited from their former colonialist masters, on cotton purchases at low fixed prices.
qas: answers: 25,000
question: How many subsidized cotton growers are in the US?

answers: $2 billion per year
question: What is the rate of subsidies of cotton growers in the US?

answers: China
question: What country provides the highest rate of support for cotton growers?

answers: French
question: Which former colonies still have tight monopolies on cotton brokering?

answers: former British colonies
question: Where in Africa is it possible to buy out brokerages in cotton?

context: While Brazil was fighting the US through the WTO's Dispute Settlement Mechanism against a heavily subsidized cotton industry, a group of four least-developed African countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mali – also known as "Cotton-4" have been the leading protagonist for the reduction of US cotton subsidies through negotiations. The four introduced a "Sectoral Initiative in Favour of Cotton", presented by Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaoré during the Trade Negotiations Committee on 10 June 2003.
qas: answers: heavily subsidized
question: What was Brazil's argument against the US cotton industry?

answers: Cotton-4
question: What are the African countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mali referred to as in the cotton industry?

answers: leading protagonist
question: What has the Cotton-4 been in regards to the US cotton subsidies?

answers: reduction
question: What could the US do that would please the foreign cotton industry concerning cotton subsidies?

answers: WTO's Dispute Settlement Mechanism
question: What organization has Brazil tried to use to curb US cotton subsidies?

context: In addition to concerns over subsidies, the cotton industries of some countries are criticized for employing child labor and damaging workers' health by exposure to pesticides used in production. The Environmental Justice Foundation has campaigned against the prevalent use of forced child and adult labor in cotton production in Uzbekistan, the world's third largest cotton exporter. The international production and trade situation has led to "fair trade" cotton clothing and footwear, joining a rapidly growing market for organic clothing, fair fashion or "ethical fashion". The fair trade system was initiated in 2005 with producers from Cameroon, Mali and Senegal.
qas: answers: child
question: What type of labor have some countries come under fire for employing?

answers: exposure to pesticides
question: What usage that causes worker damage have some countries been reported doing? 

answers: Uzbekistan
question: What country has been accused of forced child and adult labor?

answers: third largest
question: Where does Uzbekistan rank as a cotton exporter?

answers: fair trade
question: What system was started in 2005 to deal with organic and ethically produced products?

context: A public genome sequencing effort of cotton was initiated in 2007 by a consortium of public researchers. They agreed on a strategy to sequence the genome of cultivated, tetraploid cotton. "Tetraploid" means that cultivated cotton actually has two separate genomes within its nucleus, referred to as the A and D genomes. The sequencing consortium first agreed to sequence the D-genome relative of cultivated cotton (G. raimondii, a wild Central American cotton species) because of its small size and limited number of repetitive elements. It is nearly one-third the number of bases of tetraploid cotton (AD), and each chromosome is only present once.[clarification needed] The A genome of G. arboreum would be sequenced next. Its genome is roughly twice the size of G. raimondii's. Part of the difference in size between the two genomes is the amplification of retrotransposons (GORGE). Once both diploid genomes are assembled, then research could begin sequencing the actual genomes of cultivated cotton varieties. This strategy is out of necessity; if one were to sequence the tetraploid genome without model diploid genomes, the euchromatic DNA sequences of the AD genomes would co-assemble and the repetitive elements of AD genomes would assembly independently into A and D sequences respectively. Then there would be no way to untangle the mess of AD sequences without comparing them to their diploid counterparts.
qas: answers: tetraploid cotton
question: What is the final sequencing goal of sequencing diploid cotton genomes first ?

answers: Tetraploid
question: What type of cotton has two separate genomes within its nucleus? 

answers: 2007
question: When did a group of researchers decide to sequence the genomic structure of tetraploid cotton?

answers: diploid
question: What type of genome must be sequenced first to prevent confusion before the tetraploid form?

answers: diploid counterparts
question: In order to understand the tetraploid forms, what must be used as a comparison in cotton gene sequencing?

context: The public sector effort continues with the goal to create a high-quality, draft genome sequence from reads generated by all sources. The public-sector effort has generated Sanger reads of BACs, fosmids, and plasmids as well as 454 reads. These later types of reads will be instrumental in assembling an initial draft of the D genome. In 2010, two companies (Monsanto and Illumina), completed enough Illumina sequencing to cover the D genome of G. raimondii about 50x. They announced that they would donate their raw reads to the public. This public relations effort gave them some recognition for sequencing the cotton genome. Once the D genome is assembled from all of this raw material, it will undoubtedly assist in the assembly of the AD genomes of cultivated varieties of cotton, but a lot of hard work remains.
qas: answers: Monsanto and Illumina
question: What companies finished much of the sequencing of the D genome?

answers: 2010
question: When was the sequencing of D genome of G.  raimondii mostly completed?

answers: donate
question: What did Monsanto and Illumina say they would do with the research?

answers: public relations
question: What is the seeming result of donating genetic cotton sequencing to the public?

answers: cultivated varieties
question: What plants are the goal of sequencing wild forms of cotton?