Genetically Modified Cotton

GENETICALLY

MODIFIED COTTON

(Bt cotton)

Module: Fabric Knowledge for Merchandisers. Guide: Ms. Bhavna Course: Masters of Fashion Management, National Institute Of Fashion Technology, Mumbai. Batch: Semester-1

Submitted By:

Ajay Kumar

Akansha Choudhary

Alka Yadav

Anurodh Agnihotri

Arnav Paitandy

Watan Gupta

Genetically Modified Cotton MFM, Sem 1

2

About Cotton Cultivation:

Cotton is more than just a fibre for textiles. It is also an important source of raw materials used in

animal feed and for various processed food ingredients. Many countries are now growing

genetically modified cotton. In China, GM cotton could drastically reduce pesticide use.

Cotton fibres used in textiles around the world come from the seed hairs of a plant known as

Gossypium hirsutum. Cotton, which is cultivated on five continents, develops in closed, green

capsules known as bolls that burst open when ripe, revealing the white, fluffy fibres.

After harvest, the fibres must be separated from the seeds. The protein- and oil-rich seeds can be

processed into various side-products that are used in food and feed:

Cottonseed oil is a high-value cooking or frying oil and is sometimes used to make margarine.

The oil is also a source of vitamin E (tocopherol).

Protein-rich cottonseed meal is mostly used as animal feed. Some, however, is used for protein

preparations and cottonseed milk.

Leftover fibres that are too short to be spun into textiles consist almost completely of cellulose

and can be used as food additives. Cellulose (E 460) and methylcellulose (E 461) can be used as

thickeners, stabilisers, emulsifiers, or fillers.

What is Genetically modified (GM) cotton:

Genetically Engineered Organisms and Genetically Modified Organisms, with Monsanto

Corporation in the forefront of development. GE crops, including cotton seeds, have genetically

modified properties with built-in resistance to herbicides and insects (Bt cotton), and are also

called Frankencotton. Another mutant called terminator seeds, are sterile and force farmers to

buy seed from major suppliers like Monsanto, instead of naturally saving seeds from year to

year. Thankfully, terminator seeds are not expected to be marketed in the near future, according

to Cornell University.

Cottonseed oil from GE/GMO cotton crops is already in our food as a common ingredient in

many processed foods, including peanut butter, cooking oils, salad dressings, cookies, snack

chips and pastry crusts.

GE and GMO farming is legal in the United States, and currently 73% of cotton grown in the

U.S. is genetically engineered. With enormous global profit potential at stake, Monsanto has

been viciously aggressive in acquiring global contracts and lobbying reluctant governments.

Worse, poor farmers in these regions are routinely exploited with unfair pricing, and farmers in

India have been devastated by losses from Monsanto's GE crop failures.

While no studies are yet available to prove the danger of GE/GMOs, governments, scientists and

environmentalists worldwide are alarmed at the potential contamination of soil and water, food

supply, and airborne spread of these toxic organisms.

The very real environmental contamination caused by GE/GMOs is making it impossible for any

organic business to say with absolute certainty that organic cottons and woolens are 100% toxin

free anymore, because we and our children, and animals, are increasingly exposed every day.

The Organic Consumers Association is spearheading campaigns of zero tolerance, to stop

corporations like Monsanto from continuing to flagrantly place the well being of people in last

place, for corporate profit. We urge you to visit the Organic Consumers Association to learn

more, fax petitions and make your voice heard.


3

Present Senario of Genetically modified (GM) cotton in Asian Countries:

genetically modified cotton plant, which makes up 35 percent of China's crop, is damaging the

environment despite its success in controlling the bollworm, according to a report released in

Beijing Monday.

The plant, Bt transgenic cotton, harms natural parasitic enemies of the bollworm and seems to be

encouraging other pests, according to the study by the Nanjing Institute of Environmental

Sciences (NIES) under the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).

Researchers have seen a significant decrease in populations of the bollworm's natural parasitic

enemies.

Bt transgenic cotton, containing anti-bollworm genes from certain bacilli, is in large-scale

commercial production in China and the planting area was estimated to top 1.5 million hectares

last year, accounting for about 35 percent of the total area planted in cotton, according to the

Cotton Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

The report says that the diversity index of the insect community in the Bt cotton fields is lower

than conventional cotton fields, while the pest dominant concentration index is higher.

The balance of the insect community is weaker in Bt cotton fields than in fields of conventional

crops, because some kinds of insects thrive in the Bt fields and this is more likely to cause

outbreaks of certain pests, said Xue Dayuan, the NIES expert in charge of the report.

Populations of pests other than the cotton bollworm have increased in Bt cotton fields and some

have even replaced it as primary pests because the GM plant is slow at controlling those pests,

the report says.

Scientists also verified with lab tests and field monitoring that the cotton bollworm will develop

resistance to the GM cotton and concluded that Bt cotton will not resist the bollworm after eight

to ten years of continuous cultivation.

New GM organisms and products can benefit agriculture and many other industries, but people

should always beware of the long term and underlying impacts on the environment, said Zhu

Xinquan,chairman of the Chinese Society of Agro-Biotechnology which jointly hosted the

seminar with the NIES and Greenpeace China.

China is a centre for diversity of several plants such as the soy bean and faces the problem of

how to protect original genes from imported GM products.

http://www.chinacp.com/eng/cporg/cporg_sepa.html

http://www.caas.net.cn/engforcaas/index.htm


4

Acreage of cotton in total and of GM cotton in million hectares

USA

Cultivation Area in Million Hectar

Year Total Cotton GM Cotton GMO Ratio

1997 5.21 1.3 25%

2008 3.7 3.2 86%

China



1998 4.72 0.034 0.7%

2007 5.6 3.8 68%

India



2002 7.85 0.04 0.5%

2007 9.4 6.2 66%

Year

Cultivation Area in Hectares

Total Cotton GM Cotton GMO Ratio

Argentina 1998 800,000 80,000 10%

2007 400,000 380,000 95%

Australia 1997 400,000 60,000 15%

2007 50,000* 47,500* 95%

Indonesia 2001 4,000

2003 12,000

Colombia 2002 2,000

2007 72,000 22,000 30.6%

Mexico 2003 70,000 25,000 36%

2007 115,000 65,000 56.5%

South Africa 1998 12,000

2007 10,000 9,000 90%

* estimated acreage


5

Acreage of cotton in million hectares worldwide and in the major growing countries

Present Senario Of Genetically modified (GM) cotton in India:

India is an important grower of cotton on a global scale. It ranks third in global cotton production

after the United States and China; with 8-9 million hectares grown each year, India accounts for

approximately 25% of the world's total cotton area and 16% of global cotton production. Most of

the cotton in India is grown under rainfed conditions, and about a third is grown under irrigation

(Sundaram, Basu, Krishna Iyer, Narayanan, & Rajendran, 1999). However, yields of cotton in

India are low, with an average yield of 300 kg/ha compared to the world average of 580 kg/ha.

Cotton is a very important cash crop for Indian farmers and contributes around 30% to the gross

domestic product of Indian agriculture. However, as with many cotton growing areas of the

world, a major limiting factor is damage due to insect pests, especially the bollworm complex

(American bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera; Spotted bollworm, Earias vittella; Pink bollworm,

Pectinophora gossipiella). Sucking pests such as aphids (Aphis gossypii), jassids (Amrasca

bigutulla), and whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci) are also a problem in terms of direct damage to the

plant and the transmission of viruses.

In March 2002, the Indian government permitted commercial cultivation of genetically modified

Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton. The Bt gene produces a protein that is toxic to bollworms. Bt

cotton has now been produced in India for two seasons—2002 and 2003. In 2002, some 38,000

hectares were planted with Bt cotton, with more than 12,000 hectares being grown by more than

17,000 farmers in the state of Maharashtra. Given the scale of the cotton industry in India and the

current global debates over advantages/disadvantages of GM technology, it is not surprising that


6

there has been considerable and vigorous debate regarding the agronomic and economic

performance of Bt cotton in India with various reports claiming both successes and failures.

Qaim (2003), for example, analyzed trial data from seed companies testing Bt cotton and

concluded that quantities of insecticide can be reduced by about one third relative to

conventional (non-Bt) varieties, and yield gains can be up to 80% in seasons with bad bollworm

infestations (a typical increase may be 30-40%). However, trial data can be criticized as being

untypical models of the real conditions that prevail on Indian farms, and yield benefits may as a

result be far less than those projected from trials. This paper presents an analysis of data

collected from a large sample of farmers growing both conventional and Bt cotton under real

commercial field conditions over two seasons (2002 and 2003) since Bt cotton has been licensed

for commercial use in India; this is the first such study of its kind. The paper presents a much-

needed and timely assessment of the performance of Bt cotton under typical farmer-managed

conditions in India (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2004). Unlike

previous Indian studies (Naik, 2001; Qaim & Zilberman, 2003; Qaim, 2003), it analyzes

commercial field data rather than trial plot data. In this, it meets the recent (May 2004) FAO call

for more market-based studies that will accurately reflect the agronomic and economic

environments faced by growers of Bt cotton. The analysis concentrates on addressing the

question as to whether Indian farmers have experienced economic gains from growing Bt

hybrids released by a company affiliated with Monsanto (Mahyco-Monsanto) compared to a

complex of non-Bt hybrids and cultivars. The paper explores the performance of the Bt variety,

including spatial differences.

Advantages of Genetically modified (GM) cotton

Genetically modified (GM) pest-resistant cotton may provide yields up to 80 per cent higher than

traditional types. This has been observed by scientists from the University of Bonn and the

University of California at Berkeley in field trials in India. Their conclusion: peasants in the

tropics and sub-tropics can benefit substantially from GM plants. These findings are surprising,

since it has hitherto only been possible to detect very minor increases in yield, if any, in similar

studies in temperate climate zones such as the US and China. The researchers are publishing

their results in the forthcoming issue of the prestigious journal Science (Vol. 299, No. 5608) on

7th February.

The enemy is small, but greedy: the bollworm destroys a large part of the world’s cotton crop

every year; farmers spray insecticide up to 20 times a year to combat this most important cotton

pest. In 1997, therefore, Monsanto launched a type of cotton on the market which is largely

resistant to this pest: Monsanto scientists had introduced a bacterial gene into the plant which

contains the blueprint for a very specific insect poison. What is known as Bt cotton (Bt stands for

the gene donor Bacillus thuringiensis) produces its insecticide itself, so to speak.

On more than one third of China’s total cotton-growing area this GM type is being grown; the

use of pesticides has been reduced by over 70 per cent. Pesticide pollution, which used to be the

norm, has been greatly reduced. However, the yield only increased by a maximum of 10 per

cent; in GM soya beans scientists have sometimes even noticed slight reductions in yield.


7

However, the ’pressure from pests’ in the US or China, where the studies have been taking place

up to now, is considerably less than in the tropics and sub-tropics.

In 2001, a successful field trial was started, involving 395 farms from seven Indian states. In

three adjacent fields the farmers were to plant Bt cotton, the same sort without the resistant gene

and a third type which is a popular local hybrid. The use of insecticide for the Bt cotton was on

average 70 per cent less than for the two other types; however, the yield was more than 80 per

cent higher. ’Despite the higher costs for the seeds, the farmers were able to increase their

income five-fold with the GM type. Admittedly, infestation with bollworm was particularly high

in 2001,’ Dr. Qaim cautions. ’In preliminary studies with fewer farmers between 1998 and 2001

we were able to detect an average increase in yield of 60 per cent.’

The Bt cotton findings are basically also applicable to food plants. Particularly regions in the

tropics and sub-tropics, which are under severe pressure from pests could benefit from GM

plants with increased pest resistance, the scientists conclude. ’We expect the biggest increases in

yields to take place in South and South-East Asia and in Central and Southern Africa, i.e.

precisely in those areas with the highest population growth, which are especially dependent on

increasing yields.’ Even so, Qaim argues in favour of taking the potential risks of ’green genetic

technology’ seriously. ’In all the previous studies

Disadvantages of Genetically modified (GM) cotton

Crops which have been Genetically Modified to resist insects kill not just the "target insect"

(such as the borer or weevil) but beneficial insects (such as the Monarch butterfly).

Cotton crops which have been Genetically Modified to resist herbicides encourage the use of

larger quantities of herbicide, with the effect that both weeds and beneficial plants are killed

indiscriminately. These herbicides are harmful to both the environment and to humans.

Genetically Modified plants may crossbreed with wild species to produce "superweeds", which

cannot be eliminated using standard herbicides.

The use of Genetically Modified Cotton encourages dependence by the farmers on a single seed

supplier and may involve the purchase of both the seed and herbicide from one supplier. The

farmer is then at the mercy of the seed company who may vary prices of both seed and herbicide

at will.

The use of Genetically Modified Cotton reduces the number of Cotton species which are actively

grown and therefore reduces biodiversity.


8

Toxic compounds such as glyphosphate (RoundUp) and Bromoxynil are used on Genetically

Modified Cotton crops. The US Environmental Protection Agency has approved the use of

Bromoxynil despite acknowledging "...serious concerns about developmental risks to infants and

children."

The nature of genetic modification and long term effects are not well understood as these

products have not been properly tested before being released into the environment. In the USA,

the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved the use of Genetically Modified

Cotton based on data supplied by the manufacturer, Monsanto.

Genetically Modified Cotton

Documents

Transcript of Genetically Modified Cotton