GUJARAT, INDIA, MARCH 25, 2002: India’s environment regulator Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), has approved the use of a genetically modified (GM) cotton for commercial production. Agriculture minister Agit Singh told the BBC’s World Business Report he was very much in favor of GM cotton. “Farmers are clamoring for GM seeds. You cannot stop it and put a blanket ban on it. I don’t think any country can avoid it for long,” he said. But Greenpeace claims GM crops could cross pollinate and contaminate non-GM crops. India has the world’s largest cotton-growing area but yields only about 300kg per hectare, under half the global average of about 650kg. Just as in the US, the government is going to insist on certain conditions for the planting, specifically that there be a buffer zone between the GM crop and other crops and that a certain amount of non-GM cotton also be planted. It is this latter condition which will be difficult to enforce, as the purpose of that non-GM cotton is to allow a place for the cotton bollworm to thrive and reproduce, destroying its host cotton crop in the process. Without such a provision, it is expected the bollworm will rapidly adapt resistance to the toxin produced by the GM cotton, rendering the crop ultimately just as prone to destruction by the pest as non-GM cotton is now. This would be similar to the rapid development of resistance to DDT and other pesticides by destructive pests.
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