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Biotech / Medical : Monsanto Co. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (1681)	3/18/1999 10:38:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 2539

03/18 06:55 Wary Japan public seen stunting genetic food growth By Ayumi Moriyama TOKYO, March 18 (Reuters) - Widespread distrust of genetically altered food in Japan is likely to stunt the growth of the country's fledgling biotechnology industry for some time, major players in the industry say. "It is difficult to think about a company that would invest heavily in this business when it is doubtful that Japanese society would immediately accept it," an official at one of the top Japanese firms investing in genetically modified organisms (GMOs) research said on Thursday. A spokesman at Kirin Brewery Co, a major player in Japan's GMO sector that has been developing genetically altered tomatoes, agreed. "Our interpretation of the situation is that we haven't reached the point where there actually is demand for GMO products," he said. As in other countries, preference for organic food products and concerns over the possible health effects of genetically modified foodstuffs have prompted Japanese consumers to shy away from genetically modified products. In Britain, a wave of public concern about the possible dangers of genetically modified crops has prompted reports that the government may impose a moratorium on commercial planting of GMO food crops. Industry players in Japan said, however, that it was vital to start work now, despite public scepticism, in order to secure future opportunities in the business. They added that some companies were already seeking to work in collaboration with other firms. "Research and development (in biotechnology) will ensure our future as a company. It would be too late to start developing products once the public starts accepting genetic crops," said the official at the firm investing in GMO research, who asked not to be identified. A trader at a foreign grain firm added, "There is no doubt that the GMO market has high potential. We will need some kind of technology that would help boost crop yields when an expected shortage in food supplies arrives in the future." Japan Tobacco (JT) said on Thursday it was in talks with other enterprises on possible joint GMO development projects, following a news report that it would form a fifty-fifty Japanese venture with British agrochemical firm Zeneca Group to develop new rice strains aimed at bigger harvests and substituting rice for corn as animal feed. The development of GMO technology in Japan took off in the mid-1990s, several years later than in the United States and Europe, industry sources said. "The United States as a whole embraced advances in the biotechnology industry (in the 1980s), but at that time the concept was not recognised in Japan and other parts of Asia," the official at the GMO investing firm said. In January of this year, however, the Japanese government for the first time announced a plan to bolster research, development and use of biotechnology in a bid to open doors for new jobs and businesses. "(With support from the government) we expect to see further achievements in this area here in Japan," said Tomomi Sakamoto, public relations manager at U.S. biotechnology giant Monsanto Co's Japan unit.