The Australian Cotton Industry has been actively practising insecticide resistance management for 25 years, with the introduction of the Insecticide Resistance Management Strategy (IRMS) in 1983.

In Australia, the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, has a long history of resistance to

conventional insecticides, Transgenic cotton (expressing Bt toxin Cry1Ac) has been grown

The silverleaf whitefly, B-biotype Bemisia tabaci, first detected in Australia in 1999, has

become a major pest on cotton in central Queensland. The silverleaf whitefly is also found,

Resistance in the cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii) is a major new threat to Australian cotton production (Herron et al. 2001).

The silverleaf whitefly is characterised by a huge host range, high fecundity, the ability to induce physiological responses in plants, transmit plant viruses, the copious production of honeydew, and an extreme abilit