Thursday 11th May 2006

Press Release

India

Farmers in India are reporting the deaths of thousands of sheep after grazing in Bt cotton fields. A fact-finding team from the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) found that in just the four villages they visited in Andhra Pradesh state, thousands of sheep had died. The sheep had been grazing exclusively on Bt cotton fields (post-harvest) and all exhibited similar symptoms according to the farmers and post-mortems.

The report found that at least 1,800 sheep died, but the number is likely to be much higher since only a small sample of villages were visited. The fact finding team found that in these instances, roughly 25% of sheep grazed on Bt cotton plants died.

Until the causes are properly investigated, we cannot know for sure. However the report concludes that a possible cause is the Bt toxin, which is concentrated in the young leaves and flower pods of the plants which the sheep were eating.

One farmer reported that his sheep had died after grazing on Bt cotton fields last year, and so he had refrained from doing the same this year. His sheep had not died this year. Overall though, grazing of sheep on Bt cotton was more widespread this year than in previous years, and there has been a correspondingly high mortality rate.

CSA are calling for a moratorium on all Bt cotton crops until the problem has been fully investigated and the cause of the deaths identified. They are also calling for all farmers to be fully compensated.