Opinion: Unregulated use of GM: A cautionary tale

The loser is not just the organised seed industry. Sales of “legal” Bt cotton hybrid seeds have fallen from 59.6 million to 46.3 million packets between 2022-23 and 2025-26.A quarter or more of India’s cultivated area under cotton comprises genetically modified (GM) hybrids incorporating “unapproved” herbicide-tolerant (HT) and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) traits, according to a seed industry-commissioned study.