Biotechnology researcher confronts critics of Bt cotton in India
BiotechBloggers
Warangal District, in the semi-arid Telengana region of the State of
Andhra Pradesh (AP), India, has become the epicenter of everything
going bad in the cultivation of Bt cotton.
"Reports of phenomenal failure of Bt cotton, farmer distress, death of
sheep, death of cattle and alleged farmer suicides have show cased the
Warangal District as an example of all that could go wrong with modern
agriculture," He adds, further noting, "Anti-tech activism has
extrapolated all this to the other parts, in and out of AP, such as
Vidharbha region of Maharashtra."
Dr. Rao goes on to argue that a rational and scientific assessment
does not support such an intensely negative outcome from Bt cotton
cultivation. "To assess the ground realities first hand, Professor
Ronald Herring, Cornell University, Ithaca, Dr S Shantharam,
Biologistics International, of USA, and I, have visited the Warangal
District for about a week in the middle of December 2006," Adds the
researcher. The full article is available at this link:http://
www.fbaeblog.org/2007/05/agricultural_biotechnology_bt_2.htm#more