FIELDS where genetically modified cotton plants spring up as weeds in other
crops could provide refuge for the cotton boll weevil, warn entomologists in
South Carolina. That could mean the return of this major pest to parts of the
American cotton belt from which it has been eradicated.
The state spent $1.3 million eradicating the weevil, only finishing
the job in 1995. Now growers are afraid the pest could make a comeback if
farmers ignore GM cotton “weeds” growing among their other crops.
Researchers in South Carolina first noticed the problem last year in a dozen
fields of GM soybeans…
