In the wake of the fire last month at a Bangladeshi clothingfactory, a Wal-Mart executive acknowledged to Reuters that thecompany needs to do more to control its supply chain.

Tazreen Fashions, where a fire killed more than 100 workers, wasmaking clothing for Wal-Mart. The company says the factory was notcleared to be doing Wal-Mart manufacturing.

Rajan Kamalanathan, Wal-Mart's vice president of ethicalsourcing, notes that under its current system of controls, theretailer can't do much if its suppliers subcontract Wal-Mart workwithout notifying the company. Kamalanathan says Wal-Mart isthinking about better ways to work with suppliers that work withagents that place production. The story also notes that retailersare discussing stipulating fire safety codes in their contractswith suppliers.

Separately, Bloomberg reports that the Worker Rights Consortiumestimates the global garment industry would have to spend $3billion over five years to bring Bangladesh clothing factories upto Western fire safety standards.

See the full Reuters story here and the Bloomberg story here.