National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Photo: Toxin-Free Cottonseed Engineered; Could Feed Millions, Study Says


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A farmer loads a truck with unprocessed cotton near a field in Clarkesdale, Mississippi.

Growing cotton for fabrics also produces millions of tons of cottonseed, which are rich in oils, proteins—and a toxic chemical that makes the seeds unfit for human menus.

But now researchers have created a cotton plant that produces seeds with very little toxin, a breakthrough that could provide a new food source for half a billion people in the developing world.

Photograph by William Albert Allard/NGS