www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

BT cotton has neither caused any negative impact related to safety of human
or animal or environment nor has there been any crop contamination or pest
resistance any where in the world for the last 11 years, an expert in the
field and a key member of Mahyco-Monsanto team has claimed.
In fact, safety had been accorded the highest priority in biotechnology and
in the last five years of its commercial cultivation in the country and for
11 years in on thousands of hectares in several other countries, it has an
impeccable global safety record as are the other BT-crops, T M Manjunath in
his just released book +Q and A on BT-Cotton India: Answers to more than 70
questions on all aspects,+ maintained.

The detractors of biotechnology did not seem to take cognizance of the facts
that a number of experts drawn from various reputed institutions of India,
used their collective wisdom in scrutinising the scientific data from
various perspectives before approving any product as safe, Manjunath, a
former Director of Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur, and a key
member of the Mahyco-Monsanto team which was responsible for the
introduction of bt cotton in India, said.

Despite the continued opposition by "a small section", Indian farmers, who
have been haunted by bollworms for more than three decades, had accepted
this technology, he claimed.

This was reflected by the fact that area under bt-cotton, which was about
29,000 hectares in 2002, the first year of approval, has steadily increased
from year to year to reach about 3.8 milion hectare grown by more than 2.3
million farmers in nine states by 2006, Manjunath said.

Presently, with the approval of more than 60 bt cotton hybrids developed by
various Indian seed companies and also newer and improved versions of
Bt-cotton, there would be an increasing demand for these transgenic seeds,
Manjunath claimed.

Making an attempt to clear a lot of doubts and enable people to develop more
confidence in crop biotechnology, Manjunath in his book said that
coincidental with its steep increased adoption, the average yield of cotton
in India increased from 308 kg per hectare in 2001-02 to 450 kg per hectare
in 2005-06 with most of the increase in yield of up to 50 per cent or more,
attributed to BT cotton.

The book, which desribed as very cruel the allegation that BT cotton was
responsible for farmers' suicides, said it had no empirical basis. On the
contrary, Bt cotton has come as a big relief to farmers and has saved their
crops and enabled them to reap a better harvest and profit, Manjunath said.

In fact, an International Market Research Bureau survery in 2004 indicated
that for every rupee spent by the farmers, they received Rs.5.80 in value
for reduced insecticide cost and increased yield over conventional cotton,
he said.

Further, BT cotton cultivation has started in India only since 2002, whereas
the farmers' suicide had been an issue since decades, Manjunath claimed.

"Healthy criticism is welcome, but blind opposition and creating suspicion
and fear through unsubstantiated allegation have no place in science." With
vast resources, India has the potential to emerge as a supreme power in
agriculture if modern technologies were appropriately reviewed and adopted
and the farmers would be the greatest beneficiaries of agricultural
biotechnology, Manjunath said.

[www.hindu.com]