New Delhi, April 21 -- Genetically modified (GM) crops such as Bt cotton were introduced in India with the promise of reducing pesticide use. But over time, they became part of a farming model that made insecticide applications more widespread. A new study has investigated the paradoxical and often devastating consequences of GM agriculture - particularly Bt cotton in India.

Drawing on data from four GM crops - Bt cotton, herbicide-tolerant (HT) soybean, HT and / or Bt maize and HT rapeseed (canola) - the researchers underscored that GM crops, despite their early promise, had only deepened agriculture's dependence on chemical inputs over the last three decades.

In India, cotton farmers now use more insecticides thanks to Bt cotton than ...