According to the New South Wales Department of Agriculture's Plant Industries Chief new research indicates that resistance may have already developed to Monsanto's 'Ingard' GM cotton. He also points out that, if this is the case, then this will have damaging implications not just for this generation of GM cotton plants but also for the next.
While Monsanto's next generation GM cotton claims to provide more sophisticated protection against the cotton bollworm by utilising 2 insecticidal genes , such an approach would already be compromised, years before tit even reached the market, if the pest already has resistance to one of its 2 genes.
According to comments by Monsanto's spokesman, in the second item below, the company are taking this issue "very seriously".
Both the comments of Monsanto and the New South Wales Department of Agriculture indicate the only line of defence is the "resistance strategy". But this seems a somewhat forlorn hope given that both the Starlink episode and research conducted last year among US farmers, have shown that GM crop guidelines are (a) not followed by a large number of farmers, and (b) not even understood by many.
Such strategies are, in any case, unlikely to have many attractions for farmers drawn to GM crops in the first place by their supposed convenience.
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Pests resistant to cotton
transcripts of broadcasts by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/stories/s279777.htm
ABC News Online. 19th April 2001
The alarm has been raised in the cotton industry that insects are becoming resistant to genetically modified Ingard cotton.
The NSW Department of Agriculture has been monitoring crops and has discovered a noticeable increase in the survival of cotton bollworms this season, indicating the worms are less susceptible to the single BT gene in Ingard.
Plant Industries Chief, Dr Lindsay Cook says if resistance has developed to the single gene, the future success of two gene technology - which is likely to be available within five years - could also be compromised. Dr Lindsay Cook: "Yes, the two gene cotton is clearly much less prone to resistance breakdown, since the insect has to mutate to develop resistance to overcome the two separate genes. Whereas if there was an increase in resistance to the single gene, the two gene cotton would only have one remaining gene, so that is a concern. I mean, this is a warning sign, the industry needs to take another look at their resistance strategy and make sure that it's still the most effective we can devise, and then make sure that it implements all the aspects of that resistance strategy." ...
Too early for resistance - Monsanto
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/stories/s279780.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation - ABC News Online
The marketer of genetically modified cotton, Monsanto, says it's too early to speculate on a breakdown in the effectiveness of Ingard.
The company's Brian Arnst says they're yet to be convinced of the research results. Brian Arnst: There has been a change in the sampling technique and that may well be why there has been some changes in the numbers. However, we are taking it very seriously and we need to make sure the pupae destruct process, which takes place post-harvest, we are going to be extra diligent this year to ensure the growers conduct this as per the regulations.