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\u201eWe\u2018ve got a whole bunch of different cotton plants growing; some with really long thin fibres, others like the one we call \u201aShaun the Sheep\u2018, with short, woolly fibres.\u201c Cotton is a natural, renewable fibre unlike synthetics which are made with petrochemicals. Every time you wash synthetics like polyester and nylon, thousands of tiny microfibres of material are pulled free and enter our waterways. These are not degradable and can build up in the food chain. When you wash cotton, fibres are also shed but these are biodegradable and break down naturally in the environment.<\/p>\n
Through more than 30 years of improved cotton breeding using GM techniques, CSIRO and partners, Cotton Seed Distributors (CSD), is credited with reducing insecticide use in cotton growing by 85 per cent and cutting herbicide use by 60 per cent. Australian cotton is also the most water efficient in the world. \u201eAustralia produces three times more cotton per drop of water than any other country,\u201c Dr Mitchell said. \u201eIf we can produce next generation cotton then we can take a large market share of the synthetics industry and that\u2018s a win not just for Australia\u2018s $2.5 billion industry but also for the environment,\u201c Managing Director of CSD Peter Graham said. The next generation cotton research is part of CSIRO\u2018s Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform, a $13 million investment in science that applies engineering principles to biology.<\/p>\n