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

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (1683)	3/18/1999 12:34:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2539

Thread, Merrill Lynch issued a report "Monsanto Company, Nothing Like It" on 3/11 when it reinstated coverage on the company. Though the rating is accumulate, it is a very positive report (totalling 4 pages). If the following link doesn't work, register at askmerrill.com first. Registration is still free. You need Acrobat Reader to rad the ML reports. askmerrill.com

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (1683)	3/18/1999 12:18:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 2539

03/18 11:28 U.S. urges EU to speed up GM crop approvals By Andrew Osborn BRUSSELS, March 18 (Reuters) - The European Union must act swiftly to improve its approval system for genetically modified crops which is losing U.S. firms millions of dollars, Richard Rominger, Deputy U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, said on Thursday. "For the U.S., in the short term, the EU's lengthy, complex process costs us money -- about $200 million last year in lost exports to Spain, Portugal and other EU members," Rominger told a Brussels conference on GMOs. "Since several U.S. biotech corn varieties remain unapproved in the EU, it's entirely possible that we won't export any corn to the EU this year," he added. There was little chance, however, that the United States would take the EU to the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO) to get its way on GMOs, said Rominger. The WTO was not the way for the United States to solve all its trade problems. The fact that many biotechnology companies responsible for developing and marketing GM products are American has placed GM products at the heart of the transatlantic trade relationship. But European consumers have shown themselves reluctant to embrace the new technology and British research suggesting GM food may be risky received huge media coverage last month. A group of 25 anti-biotech demonstrators were arrested at the start of the conference, sponsored in part by U.S. agri-food giant Monsanto <MTC.N>, after being refused admission. Rominger said he expected the EU to sort out problems with those EU member states -- namely Austria and Luxembourg -- which operated unilateral bans on GM food. The United States's principal concern was with the EU's approval process for GM products. "In the U.S. it takes an average of nine months for a biotech product to pass through the regulatory process. In the EU, that time frame is 18-24 months for approval to be granted, and the process is not open, transparent, or predictable." The result was that European companies were discouraged from developing GM varieties that would benefit the 15-nation bloc's farmers and consumers. The answer was a "safe, open and transparent system with sound science as its base," Rominger said. A common EU/U.S. approach to the regulatory process would be useful. "We would favour a common regulatory approach so that a company would apply for approval in the United States and the EU simultaneously." Rominger also warned that calls from European consumer groups to segregate GM crop varieties would be costly to implement and push up food prices in the short term. Dr. Kenneth Baker, Director of Government Affairs for Monsanto Europe SA, lent his support to Rominger's call for the EU to improve its regulatory system. "It is essential that regulatory structures in Europe be improved and coordinated...biotech won't produce all the solutions but must be allowed to play its part and so far that is not happening," he told the conference. It was a myth that biotechnology had only taken hold in the United States since it had also been welcomed in Argentina, China, Canada, South Africa and Uruguay, he said. moneynet.com@NEWS-P1&Index=0&HeadlineURL=../News/NewsHeadlines.asp&DISABLE_FORM=&NAVSVC=News\Company