The levels of endotoxin on cottons stored in house for different lengths of time under 'normal conditions' will be reported. The survey was made as an outgrowth of the results reported at the 1991 Beltwide Conference which showed that the gram-negative bacterial population became a significantly and substantially smaller percentage of the remaining viable bacterial population after the first year of storage.

The cotton dust potential of stored cotton did not appear to significantly increase or decrease over time. Lint and cotton dust endotoxin content and potential airborne endotoxin load remained relatively stable for cotton stored up to 9 years; but for cotton stored more than 9 years, decreases were observed.