Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Genetically Modified Cotton

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BUENOS AIRES, May 6 2001 (IPS) - Argentina's Agriculture Secretariat has given the green light – after more than three years of delays due to environmental and consumer fears – for the production of a genetically modified cottonseed that will reportedly reduce production costs by 20 percent. This Roundup Ready (RR) cotton was developed by the US-based transnational Monsanto, the same company that created the RR soy seed, which is also resistant to the same herbicide, Roundup (the trade name for glyphosate), manufactured by Monsanto as well.

Argentina is ranked second in the world, after the United States, for total land area cultivated with transgenic crops.