I READ Monsanto’s letter of December 17 with interest.

According to the globally respected Nature magazine, in an article published on February 14, 2012, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in New Delhi investigated a variety of genetically modified cotton developed in India, called Bt cotton.

It was found to contain a DNA sequence known as MON 531, owned by agricultural giant Monsanto. Researchers had no explanation as to how the gene got there, according to Swapan Kumar Datta, ICAR’s deputy director general.

The article explained that in 2012 Bt cotton accounted for 93 per cent of cotton grown in India, that the vast majority (97 per cent) was sold by Monsanto, that Monsanto’s seeds were expensive and that farmers had to buy new stocks every year.

The Nature article originally stated that Monsanto’s Bt cotton seeds become sterile after one generation. Following complaints, this was amended to say that “the seeds are not sterile, but like other hybrids lose vigour and so must be replaced each year”.

I stand corrected and leave readers to draw their own conclusions as to the difference, from a small and indebted farmer’s point of view, between a seed that is sterile and one that has to be replaced every year.

Christian Vassie, Blake Court, Wheldrake, York.