ARSENIC ACID DESICCANT RESIDUES IN COTTON
ABSTRACT Arsenic acid is the principal chemical desiccant used to prepare cotton for harvesting by stripping on as many as 2 million acres annually in Texas and Oklahoma. Because the arsenic acid is applied when bolls are open, cottons from treated fields contain arsenic. The amounts present on cottons from desiccation trials were influenced by level of application and other factors. Arsenic level of raw stock was not reduced significantly by passage through a typical yam manufacturing process. Residual levels of arsenic in yarn were above levels previously shown to cause difHculties for textile wet processors b^ause of wastewater and effluent water contamination.