Lord of the Links

Monsanto reports that its seeds business in India has doubled, on teh strengths of its BT-cotton. BT stands for bacillus thuringiensis, a bacteria which repels boll worms. The company has made major breakthroughs in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

All that is fine. However, the article also states that Monsanto is the only company allowed to market Genetically Engineered (GE) cotton. There are other companies which have developed variants, which sell for much less than Monsanto's $40 per packet (conventional cotton seeds cost $10 per packet), but they have not received the requisite regulatory approval. Makes on think, is there a rat worth smelling in all this!