mass exodus of Europe's biotech companies from GM crops
*Pro-Agro shows the gate to its research staff
[For a copy of the full report
http://www.jrc.es/gmoreview.pdf]
GM Crops: Industry 0 - Protesters 1
Severin Carrell reports on the mass exodus of Europe's biotech
companies
from genetically modified crops
The Independent on Sunday, 23 March 2003
Europe's biotech firms have cancelled millions of pounds worth of
research
into genetically modified crops, sending the industry into a steep
slump, a
new study has found.
The European Commission has admitted that nearly two thirds of the EU's
biotech companies have cancelled GM research projects over the past
four
years, mainly because of the controversy over the safety and labelling
of GM
crops, and continuing consumer resistance.
The Commission also found that the number of GM field trial
applications
fell by 76 per cent last year, from the 250 submitted in 1998 to a level
not
seen since 1992. By comparison, US field trial bids have remained
relatively
stable at about 1,000 a year.
The Commission's gloom deepened after an opinion poll of 16,500 people
showed deep-rooted disquiet about GM crops. Although 44 per cent of
Europeans believed medical biotechnology would improve their lives, only
36
per cent supported GM foods.
Philippe Busquin, the European Research Commissioner, complained that
"unjustified fears and prejudice" were severely damaging the EU's
economic
prospects.
"The increasingly sceptical climate is scaring European biotech
companies
and research centres away," he claimed. "If we do not reverse the trend
now,
we will be dependent on technologies developed elsewhere."
In a bid to counter this problem, he is ploughing another €2.25bn
(?1.52bn)
into life sciences research.
The survey also underlined the public sector's increasingly leading role
in
biotech R&D in Europe. Only 22 per cent of research institutes and 25
per
cent of university institutes abandoned GM projects, compared to 68 per
cent
of the big biotech firms.
Anti-GM groups said Mr Busquin appeared to have ignored evidence that
investors were nervous about the viability of biotech companies. One
study
by the London-based Institute for Science in Society said share values
in
leading US biotech firms dropped 43 per cent last year.
Sue Mayer, of campaign group Genewatch, said the sector had failed to
justify claims it could quickly produce GM crops with improved
nutritional
or health properties, and had suppressed damaging results from
trials.
