New Delhi Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has criticised the government for its ‘failure’ to invest in public sector-initiated biotech research in agriculture, even as he stressed the need for scientific validation of the impact of Bt cotton on the sector.

“There are serious scientific issues raised by responsible scientists on Bt cotton - yield fatigue, immunity to pests, toxicity, etc. These have to be studied carefully. The failure of the public sector Bt cotton initiative is very unfortunate and we must have a strong publicly-funded and publicly-managed biotech initiative in agriculture,