This study shows that both the methods, i.e., direct cotton picking from the cotton bolls and pre-cleaning machine significantly reduces the trash content of the cotton. The main advantage of the traditional boll picking method is its speed but it has many disadvantages which include health risk, loss of trash during the initial spinning process and yarn breakages. In comparison to this method, the direct picking method is slow but it has many advantages like minimum health risk, few yarn breakages and marginal loss during production. Since the bract content is reduced by these methods, we think that the risk of byssinosis will also be minimized by these methods. However, further experiments should be carried out to study the exposure effect while processing of bractless cotton. In our opinion both these methods are useful, especially in developing countries where sufficient manpower is available and economically it may not be viable to have pre-cleaning machines at every gin. We also think that if agriculture scientists develop a variety of short staple cotton which opens fully as in the long staple variety, the direct picking of cotton will become easy and fast and thereby reduce the bract content of cotton. Further research in this direction will help minimize the risk of byssinosis. [Full paper: J.R. Parikh et al. 1995. Indian Journal of Industrial Medicine 41(2) 39-41.]