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GM cotton resists insects
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Liu Fuzhong
FOR thousands of years, Chinese cotton growers have battled a vicious nemisis: worms. But they have a new weapon in their arsenal, now that Shenzhen-based Biocentury Transgene (China) Co Ltd announced plans to commercialize genetically modified (GM) cotton species that keep worms away.
According to engineers with the company, scientists with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science developed a variety of worm-resistant cotton species by transplanting genetic materials that poison worms into the cotton.
Thus the GM cotton produces a poisonous substance that kills destructive creatures like the bollworm, a killer of cotton plants.
Scientists beefed up the plant even further by transplanting disease-resistant genes into the cotton plant to ensure its healthy growth.
Scientists with the academy also developed hybrid cotton species with better fibre quality and higher yield. China is said to be one of the only two countries in the world which possess this technology. The other country is the US, which first developed the technology in the early 1990s.
Scientists say that the technology means that farmers can stop relying on toxic pesticides. At present worms and pesticide-caused environmental pollution cost the country over 10 billion yuan (US$1.21 billion) a year.
There are currently 100 million Chinese farmers growing cotton on 4.5-five million hectares.
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