Friday, April 23, 2010

Monsanto's (NYSE: MON) India Corn Trials

Monsanto (NYSE: MON) will always be a company that takes two steps forward and one step back, as fears over the genetically modified seeds they offer make it slow going as far as introducing new products into different parts of the world.

That's the same in India, where brinjal is yet to be approved, while a new variety of corn is being tested which includes Bacillus thuringiensis as an insect control mechanism, where the gene is injected into the corn, and a protein would also be added to the corn to protect it against herbicides.

Bacillus thuringiensis is a natural ingredient normally used against worm-type of pests, like the tomato horn-worm that attacks the fruit.

Corn is of course susceptible to worms as well, the reason for including it in the corn.

Assuming the trials go well, the new corn will be introduced into India in 2012-2013. There aren't any expected roadblocks along the way that would interfere with the process going forward.

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