The film also refutes false claims purported by the biotech industry that Bt cotton requires less pesticide and empty promises of higher yields, as farmers discover the bitter truth that in reality Bt cotton in fact requires a great deal more pesticide than organic cotton, and often suffer higher levels of infestation by Mealybug resulting in devastating crop losses, and extreme financial and psychological stress on cotton farmers.
As well as the direct damage caused by this species, the hollows caused in affected fruit encourage infestation by other pests including the citrus mealybug, Planococcus citri and the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae.
Dinotefuran is an insecticide of the neonicotinoid class developed by Mitsui Chemicals for control of insect pests such as aphids, whiteflies, thrips, leafhoppers, leafminers, sawflies, mole cricket, white grubs, lacebugs, billbugs, beetles, mealybugs, and cockroaches on leafy vegetables, in residential and commercial buildings, and for professional turf management.
There he built the Biological Control Program and designed and implemented the largest biological pest-management known to date fighting the Cassava Mealybug (Phenacoccus manihoti) and saving an estimated 20 million lives by averting a major food crisis.
One species, Turanodinia coccidarum Stackelberg, has been reared from the egg masses of Pseudococcus comstocki Kuwana, a mealybug.
Phlebopus tropicus has been shown to form a crust of mycelium around the roots of species of Citrus in Brazil covering colonies of the comstock mealybug Pseudococcus comstocki which attack the roots of these plants after they have been carried there by ants (Solenopsis saevissima var. moelleri); these mycelial crusts are called criptas by Brazilian writers.