Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Bt-cotton eco-friendly: Study

BS Agriculture Editor

The controversy over the Greenpeace report on the environmental impact of transgenic Bt-cotton in China took a new turn with some officials of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences maintaining that the insect-resistant cotton actually benefited the environment.

This claim has been made in a joint statement issued by Professor Shirong Jia of the CAAS Biotechnology Research Institute and Professor Yufa Peng of the CAAS Institute of Plant Protection. Peng is director of the Beijing-based Centre for Biosafety Research.

These scientists maintain that the research findings of the past three to five years indicate that the greatest environmental impact of Bt-cotton was its benefit to the environment from a significant reduction (70 to 80 per cent) in the use of chemical pesticides.

The row on this issue had begun with a report produced by the Chinese government-funded State Environment Protection Administration Research Institute in cooperation with the global environmental lobby group Greenpeace. It had alleged that genetically modified Bt-cotton varieties introduced by the US agribusiness giant Monsanto had damaged the environment and provided few long-term agricultural benefits.

The report had further argued that Bt-cotton had destabilised China's insect ecology and caused continued farmer reliance on chemical pesticides. Besides, it said Bt-cotton, designed specifically to control the bollworm pest, was encouraging the spread of other types of pests.

In their rejoinder to this report, the two scientists have categorically stated: "The conclusions made by the author of the report are incorrect." They added that the report was based on a very limited research data. A large amount of positive results had not been quoted by the author and many other results had been painted in a negative way.

They have pointed out that the use of Bt-cotton and the consequential reduction in pesticide use in the early stage of the crop had helped check damage by another major cotton pest, 'aphid', as well. This was because the relatively lesser use of insecticide had led to a significant increase in the population of natural parasitic enemies of 'aphids', which otherwise used to be killed by the pesticides.

This apart, the scientists have allayed the fear that continued use of Bt-cotton would develop Bt toxin resistance among bollworm. In the past five years, no resistance of bollworm to Bt had been discovered.

"Resistant insect strains have been obtained in laboratories but not in field conditions", they said. Under field conditions, the presence of other crops that could function as refuge for the pests helped delay emergence of resistance, they added.

Powered by

ALSO READ:
India and GM Crops
The Rediff Budget Special
The Rediff-Business Standard Special
Money