NEW DELHI: Biotech crop giant Monsanto seemed to admit failure with Bt cotton last week, but a government analysis says it looks more like a smart business strategy.
The biotech regulatory Bill gags dissent and takes away the power of states without providing any safeguards to farmers and consumers
Latha Jishnu / New Delhi March 11, 2010, 0:42 IST
New Delhi, March 9: Despite Monsanto admitting that its Bt cotton (Bollgard-1) had failed to control pests in four districts of Gujarat, GEAC, apex regulator of genetically-modified crops, has cleared the Bollgard-2 variety, which has two Bt resistant genes, thereby increasing its toxicity.
Even as reports of Bt cotton 1 developing resistance to pink bollworm create concern in the farming community, Monsanto has begun work on two new technologies Bollgard III, the third generation Bt cotton technology, and Roundup Ready Flex (RRF), a technology that gives herbicide tolerance to the plant.
In a setback for genetically engineered cotton, Monsanto, innovator of the strain, confirmed what sceptics had said might well happen, that the pests it was supposed to resist better than natural cotton would also innovate.
