Bt Cotton

Bt cotton, approved in India in 2002, was the country's first and to date only commercially cultivated GM crop. It contains genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that produce proteins toxic to certain insects (bollworm pests), reducing the need for insecticide application. Bt cotton transformed Indian cotton production: cotton yields increased significantly post-2002, India became the world's largest cotton producer, and pesticide use on cotton fell sharply in the initial years. However, the emergence of secondary pests and resistance concerns have moderated the assessment over time. Critically, Bt cotton is a fibre crop — not a food crop — so its approval did not trigger food safety debates as directly as a GM food crop would.