IN THE ongoing wrangle over genetically modified crops, the GM side has won a minor victory.
Farmers who grew Bt cotton, which is modified to produce its own pesticide against bollworm larvae, applied as little as half as much conventional pesticide as growers of standard cotton, according to a two-year study of 81 cotton fields in Arizona. They still needed some pesticide because the Bt cotton continued to suffer damage from pests that attack cotton bolls above ground, such as lygus bugs and whiteflies.
Study leader Yves Carrière of the University of Arizona in Tucson says the work is the…
