Mandacarú

Monsanto’s transgenic cotton vs. organic cotton

March 11th, 2010. Published under Ecology and fair trade. 1 Comment.

Monsanto, the leading provider of products for agriculture recently admitted that its technology does not work, according to the Indian newspaper The Hindu. Monsanto is the developer of transgenic cotton bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) one of the first genetically modified crop technology (GM) that was commercially available from the 90s. Bt cotton was designed to be resistant to major insect pests.

But year after year, farmers, indigenous and scientists have been watching in the fields of Bt cotton that pests are becamming resistant to Monsanto’s genetically engineered toxins and, therefore, it was necessary to apply large amounts of pesticides. Monsanto has consistently denied that situation.

For many years Monsanto was claiming that the main benefit of bt cotton in India was a reduction of pesticide use. Now, they admit that this is not true. It has been shown that so-called pink bollworm, a stong pest for farmers in India, is now resistant to the toxin of bt cotton. Which means that this insect has now become a sort of super-pest against which much more will have to be done to avoid it.

What is the solution that Monsanto is giving? They recomend to use the same technology but more advanced: 2.0 bt cotton. With twice the amount of toxins (and almost doubling the price of seeds without bt).

But the problems do not end here. A few weeks ago, a pro-GM scientist, Central Institute of Cotton Research (ICRC) in Nagpur, Dr. kranthi, spoke about other “wonders” of bt cotton. According to Dr. Kranthi, bt cotton has increased the use of dangerous pesticides and pest are stroger and more effective to destroy crops.

Still, organic cotton farmers are in a better posittion. They work toguether with NGO’s, farmers’ associations and companies like Mandacarú in order to develop new ways to figth pest without health risks.

Fuente: Laura Colombo – Greenpeace Argentina