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Failed promises: the rise and fall of GM cotton in India

A Soil Association report, reveals how genetically modified (GM) cotton grew to almost obliterate all other cotton production in India, and how the promised GM success rapidly turned to failure, with disastrous, even lethal, results for some of the world’s poorest farmers. The report, launched at the Textile Exchange Sustainability Conference in Washington D.C., reveals how alternative, more sustainable cotton production is now successfully replacing GM. GM cotton was introduced to India in 2002 by Mahyco Monsanto (India) Ltd. The initially promising performance of GM cotton proved short-lived as crops experienced severe pest attacks. Production costs rose threefold due to the more expensive pesticides needed to control problem insects and widespread crop failure.

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