Posted on 18-10-2003
Monsanto
Pulls Out Of Europe
By Robert Uhlig, London, Daily Telegraph 17 Oct03
Monsanto, the American pioneer of genetically modified crops,
said
Wednesday it was pulling out of its European cereal seed business.
The move
was widely seen as a sign that it has given up hopes of introducing
GM
cereals in Europe.
It announced its decision on the eve of Thursday's publication
of results
of farm-scale British evaluations of GM crops, the final and
most
influential part of the Government's investigation into whether
to allow GM
crops to be grown commercially. The trials, which investigated
the effect
of GM maize, oilseed rape and sugar beet on farmland wildlife
and
biodiversity, are expected to give a mixed verdict on the technology.
Two other Government reports on the economic benefits of growing
GM crops
and on scientific understanding of their environmental and health
effects
have also failed to present a strong case for rushing into commercial
GM
cultivation. There are also questions about the value of the
GM maize
trials, which did not take the vital factor of crop yield into
account.
Monsanto's announcement that it wants to sell its cereal development
stations at Cambridge, England, and in France, Germany and the
Czech
Republic, followed hardening resistance to GM crops throughout
Europe.
Insurers are not prepared to underwrite GM farmers, and 98 per
cent of
37,000 participants in GM Nation?, a public consultation, told
the
Government they did not want GM crops or food.
Jeff Cox, Monsanto's general manager for northern Europe, said
the
withdrawal from Europe was to allow the company to realign its
business to
``focus on those projects that will best capitalise on in its
market and
technological strengths''. He said the company needed to save
up to pounds
65 million and would be making one in 11 of its workers redundant
worldwide. When Monsanto bought Plant Breeding International
Cambridge from
Unilever in 1998, Hugh Grant, then president of Monsanto's agricultural
division, said GM crops would be commercial reality in Britain
by this year.
Anti-GM lobbyists said the withdrawal was a sign that Monsanto
was
``throwing in the towel'' in Europe. They said that with Canadian
farmers
campaigning against licensing Monsanto's GM wheat, the company
was also
facing severe resistance in North America. Pete Riley, of Friends
of the
Earth, said Monsanto was ``pulling out
after five years with no products to show and no test sites
for Monsanto GM
cereals in Britain this year''. He said: ``They are clearly
backing off GM
wheat in Europe, where until now they were the pioneer.''
This week Margot Wallstrom, the European Union's environment
commissioner,
accused American biotechnology firms of lying about the benefits
of GM
technology and ``trying to force it on people''.
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