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Bollgard-III and Roundup Ready Flex: regulatory status in India Photo: Shree_clips B · Pexels License · source ↗

Bollgard-III and Roundup Ready Flex: regulatory status in India

Bollgard-III (BG-III) is the proposed next-generation Bt cotton stack adding a third insecticidal protein (Vip3A) to the Cry1Ac+Cry2Ab Bollgard-II stack (Bt Cotton Bg Ii). Roundup Ready Flex (RRF) is the herbicide-tolerance trait that confers tolerance to over-the-top glyphosate spray. Neither event has been approved for commercial cultivation in India, yet both circulate as unauthorised seed in Maharashtra, Telangana and Gujarat.

Why BG-III matters

Pink bollworm has developed field resistance to both Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab — see Cotton Bollworm Resistance Bt Failure and Pink Bollworm. Vip3A binds different midgut receptors and shares no cross-resistance with the Cry proteins, so stacking it would in principle restore transgenic protection. Bayer/Monsanto withdrew its BG-III application from India in 2016 after policy disputes over royalty caps and the National Seed Price Control Order. No fresh application has been re-submitted as of 2024.

Roundup Ready Flex

RRF stacks a glyphosate-tolerant 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) gene with BG-II. Farmers can spray glyphosate over the crop to control weeds in place of manual weeding (Cotton Weed Management) and the costlier directed sprays farmers currently use (Roundup Ready Cotton Regulatory). GEAC has held the application in abeyance citing concerns over (a) glyphosate residues, (b) weed-resistance evolution and (c) absence of approval pathways for stacked HT events.

Unauthorised cultivation

Down to Earth and SciDev investigative reporting estimates 7-15% of Maharashtra and Telangana cotton area is sown to unauthorised HtBt seed, sold without branding or with deliberately misleading labels. Field-level enforcement is patchy; seizures occur but rarely lead to prosecutions. Reported incidents include glyphosate drift damage to neighbouring non-HT cotton and to intercropped pulses.

Policy debate

Industry bodies including the Cotton Association of India have asked GEAC either to approve BG-III and RRF — citing widespread de facto adoption — or to enforce the ban more effectively. Civil society groups have raised concerns about seed-system governance, royalty structure and the precedent for clearing other unapproved GM events.

Implications for farmers

Until either event is cleared, farmers planting unauthorised HtBt face seed-replacement risk if the crop fails (no insurance recourse) and there is no guaranteed off-type purity. Cotton millers also report contamination of bale lots with HT cotton complicating export documentation under traceability standards.

See also Bt Cotton Bg Ii, Roundup Ready Cotton Regulatory, Cotton Bollworm Resistance Bt Failure, Pink Bollworm, Cotton Weed Management.

Sources

  1. GEAC Decisions. Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, MoEFCC.
  2. Illegal HT-Bt cotton spreads across India. Down to Earth.
  3. Cotton Association of India stakeholder representations.