http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1016-06.htm
Published on Thursday,
October 16, 2003 by the lndependent/UK
Crops Giant Retreats from Europe Ahead
of GM Report
by Steve Connor
Monsanto, the huge American biotechnology company which has
pioneered GM crops, is withdrawing from many of its European
operations and laying off up to two thirds of its British workers.
The announcement came
on the eve of the publication of the
Government's GM crop trials today. Tony Blair is thought to be
in favor of GM crops, stressing the need for Britain to be in
the vanguard of new industries that could be worth billions of
pounds.
But ministers will
be under pressure to limit, or scrap, further
development of GM crops in the face of public opposition. One
industry insider said the international biotechnology business
was becoming disillusioned with Europe's anti-GM stance.
"If there's no
market for something, you go elsewhere," he said.
"The big companies are looking to China, South-east Asia
and South
America."
Monsanto said its decision
to pull out of conventional cereal
crops in Europe was not related to the continent's moratorium
on commercial growing of GM crops. But a spokeswoman added:
"Monsanto is obviously frustrated by the amount of time it
has taken for GM crops to be accepted in Europe, but this
decision is part of a much bigger global realignment."
Monsanto said it was
closing its multimillion-pound research
center in Cambridge with the loss of up to 80 highly skilled jobs.
Employees heard of
the decision for the first time yesterday
afternoon even though the plan had been circulating among analysts
outside the company earlier this week.
On Tuesday, a company
spokesman denied there was any intention
to close some British operations. But 24 hours later Monsanto
confirmed that it was to shut its European cereals business.
"This results from a strategic decision ... to realign the
company's core businesses in order to focus on those projects
that will best capitalize on its market and technological
strengths," a spokesman said.
Today the results of
the Government's farm-scale trials of
three GM crops will be released. These could give European
governments the ammunition to ban the commercial growing of
some varieties if they can be shown to damage the environment.
Last month, a test
of public opinion in Britain found that
the majority of people did not want GM food in their supermarkets.
In a series of questions that formed part of the "GM Nation"
debate, 85 per cent of respondents said they believed GM crops
would benefit producers rather than consumers, 86 per cent said
they were unhappy with the idea of eating GM food, 91 per cent
said they thought GM crops had a potentially negative effect on
the countryside and 93 per cent said GM was being driven by profit
rather than public interest.
Monsanto said its closure
could affect up to 80 of its 125 British
employees, who mostly work on the breeding of conventional varieties
of winter wheat, spring wheat and spring barley. Crop breeding
centers in France, Germany and the Czech Republic will also be
hit by the cutbacks.
Monsanto said it was
reducing its global workforce of 13,200
by between 7 and 9 per cent, but the precise number of jobs
lost in Britain would not be announced until the end of the
90-day consultation period required by law.
Jeff Cox, Monsanto's
UK general manager, said the company hoped
to find a buyer for its conventional cereals business which
could save some of the jobs.
"Monsanto will
remain in the UK as a streamlined crop protection
and oilseed rape business, with our flagship plant protection
product - Roundup - continuing to lead the market," Mr Cox
said.
© 2003 Independent
Digital (UK) Ltd
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