Genetically Modified Cotton in Australia

The cotton industry is a very important and beneficial one in Australia but there has been a constant problem with plagues of bollworms (Helicoverpa species) which eat the crops. Therefore having the cotton genetically modified so that they produce their own pesticide, which does not harm the environment as man made, spray on pesticides do, and also has few negative side effects.

The genetically modified crop was Ingard cotton, a transgenic variety containing a gene from the soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt, a microbe long used as a biopesticide in horticulture. The engineered bacterial gene, Cry1Ac, causes the cotton plants to produce an insecticidal protein that damages the gut of caterpillar pests, thereby reducing the need for pesticide applications.

There are many arguments for and against the production of GM (Bt) cotton. For instance the production of this genetically modified cotton is good in the fact that the crop is then able to produce its own pesticide, ...