GM giant quits Britain amid backlash
by DUNCAN GARDHAM, Daily Mail
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16/10/2003 08:56:45
The giant bio-tech firm Monsanto yesterday announced a major withdrawal
from the UK amid intense opposition to genetically modified foods.
The company, the leading multinational behind the production of GM
crops, is closing its wheat growing operation, based in Cambridge.
Officials said the move was partly due to the opposition to GM crops
which has inspired the Daily Mail's campaign against so-called
"Frankenstein Foods".
Monsanto is also seeking to sell off crop-breeding centres in France,
Germany and the Czech Republic.
The move was widely seen as an indication that the company has given up
hopes of introducing GM crops to Europe.
Pete Riley, of Friends of the Earth, said last night: "If they are
pulling out, we should rejoice."
Monsanto's decision was made public on the eve of the Government's final
announcement on the prospects for GM crop cultivation here.
Earlier this week it was revealed that the Government's own research had
found that GM farming would pollute the countryside for generations.
Monsanto's Cambridge unit employed 125 people developing hybrid wheat
varieties for the European market.
The company bought the former Government Plant Breeding Institute from
Unilever in 1998, declaring that GM crops would be established within
five years.
But a Monsanto spokesman said last night the expected business had
"never materialised". Last month, Bayer CropScience pulled the plug on
UK field trials, leaving just one company, Syngenta, actively pursuing
GM here.
The results of the Government research had been wdely seen as dealing a
bodyblow to supporters of GM crops.
Disturbing figures came from three separate studies conducted on behalf
of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
They showed that pollen contamination would spread far further than
previously thought and "feral" growth of weed killer -proof plants from
just one crop would persist for years.
At the same time, the heavy use of chemicals associated with the crops
could wipe out some bird species.
The warnings followed the massive public suspicion of GM crops revealed
by the Government's own national consultation.
In an initiative involving hundreds of public meetings and 37,000
questionnaires, 93 per cent of respondents said not enough was known
about the long-term effects of GM foods on health, while 86 per cent
said they would not eat it.
Concern about pollution of organic and other farms was mentioned by 95
per cent, while 93 per cent said GM technology was driven more by profit
than public interest.
There has also been concern over the close relationship between the
Labour Government and Monsanto.
David Hill, Tony Blair's new spin doctor, is a former adviser to
Monsanto and Science Minister Lord Sainsbury holds a stake in a firm
linked to Monsanto, which is handled by a blind trust.
The GM row in Europe has escalated recently, with comments from EU
environment commissioner Margaret Wallstrom that GM companies were lying
and trying to force unsuitable crops on European farmland.
The EU has been operating what is effectively a moratorium on GM crops,
but has come under intense pressure from the US to allow them.
Monsanto described the Cambridge closure as part of a global corporate
restructuring.
It will continue to promote its crop protection products here but is
expected to focus its GM aspirations in China, South East Asia and South
America.
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