Title:
A Cotton Plant Kills One Kind of Bug, but Is Blamed
for Another
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
See text below
Text:
In two thousand eight, scientists reported on a
study of cotton grown in six provinces in northern
China. The study involved bollworms, a major threat
to cotton farmers. It also involved Bt cotton, a
plant genetically engineered to resist that
threat.Bt cotton plants naturally kill bollworms. As
a result, the study in China found that the cotton
plants could also help protect nearby crops against
damage by the insects.Now, several researchers
involved in that study have published another report
in the same journal, Science. They studied the same
farmlands again and confirmed the findings about
bollworms. But they also found something else. They
say another kind of bug is now attacking the cotton
and other crops. The study reported on mirid
populations between nineteen ninety-seven and two
thousand eight. The researchers also documented the
use of insecticide chemicals by the Chinese farmers
from nineteen ninety-two to two thousand
eight.Kongming Wu of the Chinese Academy of
Agricultural Sciences in Beijing took part in both
studies. He says mirids are destroying crops
including cotton, apples, pears, peaches and
vegetables. He says this is happening where mirids
never before were a problem. The report says the
bugs invaded after farmers decreased their use of
insecticides by planting Bt cotton. The scientists
say their research shows that the Bt cotton has
become a source of mirids. They say the population
increases are related to drops in insecticide use on
the cotton crop.The genetically engineered cotton is
designed to help farmers save money by decreasing
the need for poisons. But the scientists say the
Chinese farmers have now had to use more
insecticides to fight the mirids. Bt is a bacterium
that was discovered in the early twentieth century.
Farmers started using it as a natural way to kill
insects. Then scientists learned how to put a Bt
gene into cotton plants. Much of the cotton grown in
northern China is a Bt variety made by Monsanto.
Different companies produce Bt cotton. Around the
world, farmers grow an estimated sixteen million
hectares of Bt cotton. And that's the VOA Special
English Agriculture Report. Tell us about a time
when you have tried to solve one problem but
unexpectedly produced another. Share your comments
at voaspecialenglish.com or on our Facebook page at
VOA Learning English.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
