After pest attack, some Indian farmers shun GM cotton

By Rupam Jain Nair and Mayank Bhardwaj BHATINDA (Reuters) - Indian farmers are for the first time abandoning genetically modified cotton after a devastating pest attack ravaged their fields, sowing doubts about the crop technology that had been hailed as a panacea. The whitefly attack on the Bt cotton variety in Punjab and Haryana has caused a rural crisis: at least three farmers have committed suicide around the city of Bhatinda and tens of thousands protested to demand state aid. These are some of the same farmers who more than a decade ago reaped the first bumper harvest of GM cotton that quickly caught on because it dramatically increased yields and raised living standards. Cotton...