Bangalore: Police on March 26 detained six "Greenpeace" activists who tried to storm the Monsanto Research and Development Centre in Bangalore demanding a stop to further genetic experiments of Bt cotton in Indian fields.

The activists scaled the building housing the Monsanto office, chained themselves to windows and demanded that the multinational seed company "admit failures" of Bt Cotton and withdraw the seeds from the market, a Greenpeace release said in Bangalore.

"Greenpeace has recently concluded a sample survey of Bt Cotton farmers in three districts of Karnataka. Just like in Andhra Pradesh, the farmers here reported disturbingly high incidence of pests, along with low, poor quality yields, point to a total failure of the technology," Greenpeace India Executive Director G Ananthapadmanabhan said.

Monsanto R&D Director Dr T M Manjunath denying the charges by Greenpeace said the failure of cotton crop in Andhra Pradesh was due to "drought" conditions and "wilt" disease.

He said Bt cotton was only to fight "bollworm" pest, which destroys cotton crops.

Quoting government figures, Manjunath said the farmers have seen a yield of Rs 7,000 per acre due to use of Bt cotton and added that they were demanding more.

Police said they later released the Greenpeace activists with a warning.

PTI