Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Reducing insecticide-spraying by using genetically modified crops!

Want to reduce the use of chemicals on crops? China has switched

from conventional seeds, which require insecticide spraying as many as 15 times a year, to a transgenic variety that produces a protein toxic to crop-ravaging insects like the cotton bollworm. Today so-called Bt cotton is planted on nearly 60 million acres in China, making up more than 95 percent of the country’s total crop. The result: "With the Bt cotton, chemical use decreased 60 percent," says Kongming Wu, an entomologist with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Read more here: http://discovermagazine.com/2013/jan-feb/24-transgenic-crops-cut-toxins-boost-ecosystem#.UO21uqxS9jl

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