Protests Won't Stop Food Crop Development, Biotech Firms Say
Bloomberg News
February 19, 1999, 2:29 p.m. ET
Protests Won't Stop Food Crop Development, Biotech Firms Say
London, Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Biotechnology companies said
they will continue developing genetically modified seeds and
plants in Europe, even after more than a week of protests in the
U.K. prompted closer scrutiny of the industry.
Public criticism of genetically altered food crops has been
mounting in the U.K. all week and peaked yesterday when Greenpeace
activists dumped 4 metric tons of GM soybeans outside the official
home of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The U.K. government so
far has resisted calls to impose a full moratorium on growing such
plants.
Consumer concern that genetically modified foods could harm
humans or the environment has hampered the efforts of
biotechnology companies seeking European Union approval of their
products. Still, companies such as Zeneca Group Plc, a British
drug company with the third-biggest agrochemicals business in the
world, remain dedicated to marketing GM crops in Europe.
''We're a global business and we see opportunities for Zeneca
and benefits on a global basis, and Europe is very much included
in that,'' said David Buckeridge, general manager of Zeneca's
plant science unit. Zeneca's agrochemicals unit accounts for
almost one-third of the company's sales.
While the U.S. has embraced biotechnology in agriculture, and
regulators there have approved more than 30 genetically modified
seeds since 1990, no GM crops are grown commercially in Britain,
though that could soon change.
The industry agreed in October to delay introducing insect
resistant crops for three years, although herbicide resistant
seeds could appear on the market before then.
Monsanto, Novartis
St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. has said it will introduce a
sugar beet variety that tolerates herbicides to the U.K. in 2001.
The company already sells soybeans, corn and cotton seeds that are
resistant to its Roundup herbicide in the U.S., although its
application to grow two types of genetically modified cotton was
last week rejected by the EU.
Novartis AG, the world's biggest crop chemicals company, said
its own herbicide-resistant sugar beet will also be market ready
in 2001. The Basel, Switzerland-based company now sells corn
genetically altered to resist the European corn borer, an insect
that destroys 7 percent of the global corn harvest each year, and
is developing modified cereal grain, oilseed and vegetable seeds.
The Novartis board of directors and shareholders has
''continuously confirmed'' their commitment to the company's goal
of technological innovation, said Stephen Smith, chief executive
of Novartis Seeds Ltd. Still, no product can come to market
without consumer approval, he said.
''It's pointless to introduce a crop that consumers won't
accept,'' Smith said. The company's agribusiness unit generated 26
percent of its 1998 sales.
Consumer Confidence
Consumer trust in the government's ability to assure a safe
food supply was eroded by its handling of bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, or so-called ''mad cow'' disease, companies said.
Critics have said the government did not respond quickly enough to
indications humans could catch a human strain of the lethal brain
disease by eating British beef.
''That scandal has ruined public confidence in science,
regulators and even the government,'' said Dan Verakis, a
spokesman for Monsanto in the U.K.
Educating consumers and respecting their concerns is
essential for the successful introduction of a product that has
been genetically altered, Buckeridge said. Discussions with
pressure groups, consumers and supermarkets led the company to
clearly label a tomato puree it began selling in U.K. supermarkets
in 1996 as genetically modified, even though such labeling wasn't
required by law at the time, he said.
Research is ongoing to develop crops that ultimately could
reduce pesticide and herbicide use, lower water requirements, make
plants resistant to disease, lengthen the shelf life of fruits and
vegetables and make foods healthier.
To be sure, critics worry insects, weeds and diseases could
become resistant to genetic modifications and modifications to a
food's genetic makeup could damage human health.
Current technology is unlikely to yield adequate food
supplies for a growing world population, the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization said last month.
The global population is forecast to rise by 7.5 billion
people by 2020, including 6.3 billion in developing countries.
There won't be enough food supplies to feed that population
without new strains of staple crops, the FAO said.
--Anne Brockhoff in the London newsroom (44) 171 330 7100/jac |
