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5th September 1999
The Independent on SundayGM bosses want to pull out
of UK
Top executives of Monsanto, the world's leading biotechnology firm, are pressing the
board to pull out of genetically modified crop trials in Britain, because public hostility
is damaging its business.
Senior company sources have told the Independent on Sunday that a powerful group within
management is arguing that the trial plantings should cease entirely. Although the
Monsanto chairman, Bob Shapiro, is insisting that the trials must continue, the company
has already drastically scaled back its planting in Britain. Senior managers are deeply
frustrated by the success of anti-GM campaigners in disrupting them.
The Independent on Sunday has also learned that the Clinton administration is so concerned
at Monsanto's troubles in Britain that it is putting heavy pressure on ministers to allow
a new GM maize, developed by the company, into British shops and supermarkets.
Monsanto's withdrawal would be a devastating blow, both to the GM industry and to Tony
Blair who has made support for biotechnology an integral part of the New Labour
"project" for Britain.
The Prime Minister is facing a revolt within his own party - expected to surface at this
month's Labour party conference - over the pro-GM stance on which he has staked much of
his authority. Shortly afterwards, Mr Shapiro will fly to Britain to plead his case at a
Greenpeace conference.
Investors have been deserting Monsanto and other biotechnology companies as opposition to
their GM products has grown; Monsanto shares have fallen by more than 10 per cent over the
past six months. Deutsche Bank, Europe's largest, predicts that GM organisms will become a
"pariah" for shareholders and a "liability" to farmers and warns of
"an earnings nightmare" for Monsanto.
Statistics collected by Friends of the Earth from government documents show that Monsanto
has cut its trials by three-quarters over the past 12 months. This year it has only about
30 sites around the country, compared with 110 in 1998.
Pete Riley, the pressure group's GM campaigner, said: "Monsanto are drastically
scaling down their operations in the face of overwhelming public opposition to their
activities in the UK. It is time they packed up and went home altogether."
Monsanto officially denies that there have been discussions about ending the UK trials and
says that the reduction is not evidence of an impending withdrawal. A spokeswoman at its
headquarters in Missouri said: "There have been no such discussions. We think it's
important that people get the information that comes out of these trials."
But senior sources in the UK privately admit that some directors are indeed advocating a
withdrawal. Peter Melchett, executive director of Greenpeace, says that this would be a
disaster for the company. "If they cannot make it in England, where they have the
most sympathetic government in Europe, it is hard to see how they could make it
anywhere," he said. |