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The southern Indian state of Karnataka has decided to prohibit the sale of genetically modified (GM) seeds.

The ban follows protests by farmers and activists who burnt fields planted with transgenic crops, arguing that such crops will damage India’s genetic diversity.

The move goes against the national government’s decision in March to allow commercial production and sale of GM cotton seeds containing the Bt — Bacillus thuringiensis — gene (see India approves cultivation of GM crops). Bt protects against bollworm, the most serious cotton pest in India.

Link to Nature news story (Scroll down to Transgenic cotton gets mothballed after protests.)

Reference: Nature 418, 716 (2002)