Chemically Speaking - August 2006
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Could Cornell be Wrong?
Forty-year-old farmer Wang Fengtong from Mazhuang village of Xinjin city, in North China's Hebei Province, said she eventually decided to keep planting the genetically modified (GM) cotton this spring, although its anti-insect effect “seems to have been decreasing” adding, “After all, its benefits are still higher than those of conventional types of cotton, and labor is saved.” Mainstream agricultural experts were cited as saying a more effective way of managing GM crops is needed if farmers are to keep enjoying the seeds’ benefits in the future.
Since its commercialization in China in 1997, Bt cotton sales have expanded rapidly, with the total planted area reaching 3.3 million hectares in 2005, 
accounting for nearly 60 percent of all the cotton growing in China. A study carried out by Cornell University researchers based on data provided by the Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy (CCAP) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) last month was less than optimistic. It found that although Bt cotton reduced pesticide use by more than 70 percent between 2001 and 2004, since then secondary insects mainly mirids, which are not targeted by the Bt toxin have arisen, and many GM cotton growers have ended up using the same amount of pesticides as farmers who planted conventional cotton. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, the lead scientist in the study and a professor of food, nutrition and public policy at Cornell, was quoted as saying, “These results should send a very strong signal to researchers and governments that they need to come up with remedial action for Bt cotton farmers.”
However, CCAP director Huang Jikun was cited as saying the Cornell team's conclusions could be based on an incorrect reading of the data, and that 2004 had particularly low summer temperatures and more precipitation, so the mirids affected not only cotton but also other conventional crops nearby. CCAP interviews with the same farmers in 2005 and 2006 showed fewer mirids. (China Daily, 8/7/06).
