The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) today categorically said it had satisfied itself about the superiority of the Bt-cotton hybrids before recommending them for commercial cultivation in specified regions.
This was stated by ICAR director-general Panjab Singh while reacting to the controversy over the reports from China on the alleged adverse affects of Bt-cotton cultivation on the environment and the subsequent denial by top agricultural scientists of that country.
The formal approval to these hybrids, produced by Monsanto and marketed in India by its Indian subsidiary Mahyco, was granted recently by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee.
Singh said the contradictions of these reports vindicated ICAR
