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Subject: NEWS - burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Yields to Activist Pressure
In a message dated 10/11/99 5:21:34 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Thakin writes:
<< Title: Monsanto Yields to Activist Pressure
Date: 07-OCT-1999
Author: D Ravi Kanth (DHNS), in Deccan Herald, 06-08-1999
Source: Sergio Oceransky <sergio@xxxxxxxxxxx> (by way of Jay
<jay@xxxxxx>
Style: News report
Reference: http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/oct06/ntnfo.htm
NGOs bring pressure on company Monsanto to stop production of sterile
seeds
Monsanto, the US biotech giant now in the eye of a storm over its
genetically modified food research, suffered a setback with its decision
to stop plans to produce terminator (sterile) seeds, a decision that
Karnataka Rajya Ryota Sangha (KRRS) President Prof Nanjundaswamy would
welcome.
For sometime now, Prof Nanjundaswamy and other farmers` organisations
have been hammering against genetically-modified seeds, which the US
agri-corporations like Monsanto are selling to Indian farmers. Trade
analysts said Monsanto`s decision is prompted by rising backlash against
the genetically modified (GM) technology.
''Though we do not yet own any sterile seed technology, we think it is
important to respond to those concerns at this time by making clear our
commitment not to commercialise gene protection systems that render seed
sterile,`` said Robert Shapiro, Monsanto`s chairman.
Monsanto`s decision on Tuesday pummelled its stock to a 52-week low of
US ?33.625. In the last 12 months, the company`s stock lost 35 per cent
of its value just at a time when the Standard & Poor`s 500-stock index
is up 30 per cent during the same period.
To overcome the weak patent protection laws in developing countries
where farmers grow the same seed for a second crop, Monsanto devised a
research programme to produce the terminator seed to protect its GM
technology, a Geneva-based investment analyst said.
The seed would not be fertile after one crop and thereby, it would have
forced farmers to buy afresh from the company for the next crop.
PRESSURE GROUPS: Monsanto is on the verge of commercialising this
technolgy but several western non-governmental organisations threatened
the US biotech giant with dire consequences. Recently, a London-based
non-governmental organisation`s volunteers destroyed a Monsanto-raised
experimental GM crop.
Friends of the Earth, a UK-based NGO, called for a five-year freeze on
GM crops and food to conduct more research into their impact on human
health and the environment.
The biotech giant, however, has not foreclosed its options completely.
Monsanto said it did not rule out the development of future technology
in this field. ''We are not currently investing resources to develop
these technologies, but we do not rule out their future development and
use for gene protection or their possible agronomic benefits,`` Mr
Shapiro maintained.
A World Trade Organisation trade analyst said Monsanto seemed worried
about the escalating popular backlash against the GMOs (genetically
modified organisms) and genetically modified foods. ''The company must
have seen the writing on the wall, particularly with environmental NGO
preparing for violent protest demonstrations against GMOs during the
Seattle ministerial
conference,`` the analyst said.
A spectre of food scare, arising out of safety and quality, is now
haunting Europe. With each passing day, leading European countries are
besieged with new issues, particularly those relating to genetically
modified foods in which the United States is an undisputed leader. In
all likelihood, the new millennuim`s trans-Atlantic trade wars will be
fought over barriers to GMFs or what the Germans would like to call
''Frankenstein foods``, the analyst said.
The environment ministers of the European Union`s 15-member countries
recently zeroed in on a plan to impose a moratorium on the sale and
planting of products raised through genetically modified techniques.
When this measure comes into effect, it could well be a deathknell to GM
food industry that is increasingly dominating the US food market.
In a dispute over beef raised with growth hormones which Washington and
Canada won against the EU, the WTO authorised the US go ahead with
punitive tariffs on the European products to the tune of US ?116
million.
In the G-8 industrialised countries meet in Cologne sometime ago, there
were near skirmishes between France and the United States over
regulation of GM foods. French President Jacques Chirac made a forceful
demand for creation of a global scientific authority to oversee issues
pertaining to food safety.
Interestingly, the move is premised on the ''precautionary principle,
which lets governments to take prompt action against products where
there is scientific uncertainity and a perceived risk of damage to the
environment or public health.`` US President Bill Clinton promptly
turned down the demand because the US interpreted the whole move as a
clever protectionist trick to force strict labelling laws on the
American products, particularly hormone treated beef.
>>