After GM mustard, GEAC to recommend Bayer’s herbicide-tolerant cotton
- Category
Science & Technology
- Published
4th Nov, 2022
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Context
After the clearance for GM-Mustard crops for field trials, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is going to recommend an ‘environmental release’ of genetically modified (GM) cotton.
GEAC is a body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change that appraises GM products for their testing and commercialization (environmental release).
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Background
- Nearly two decades ago, a genetically modified type of cotton, known as Bt cotton, was introduced to India to reduce farmers’ insecticide use.
- Though the effects of Bt cotton on farmers’ yield vary across Indian states, most states show a decrease in insecticide use since the introduction of Bt cotton.
- A reduction in insecticide use may be beneficial for farmers’ health and the environment by reducing pollutants.

About
About BG-II RRF cotton:
- Earlier, the BG-II RRF cotton had already undergone biosafety research and field trials by 2012-13.
- Bollgard II Roundup Ready Flex (BG-2 RRF) is a herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant variety of BT cotton.
- BGII RRF offers protection against weeds such as American Bollworm, besides continuing protection against insects.
- India has already allowed commercial use of BG-1 and BG-2 GM cotton while the approval for the BG-2 RRF has been pending at various stages.
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Recent GM-Cotton alterations:
- A German multinational company ‘Bayer AG’is going to introduce a modification in cotton plants that will allow farmers to spray the herbicide ‘glyphosate’.
- The transgenic cotton — Bollgard II Roundup Ready Flex (BG-II RRF) contains three alien genes; the first two (‘cry1Ac’ and ‘cry2Ab’) are isolated from a soil bacterium,
- Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt, and coding for proteins toxic to the American bollworm, spotted bollworm, and tobacco caterpillar insect pests.
- The third gene, ‘cp4-epsps’, is sourced from another soil bacterium, Agrobacterium tumafaciens.
Significance:
- Its incorporation into cotton makes the crop “tolerant”to glyphosate.
- This herbicide cannot be applied on normal cotton, as the chemical does not distinguish between the crops and weeds.