An end to GM crop development for Europe?
17/01/12 21:31
Source: Financial Times/MARKETDATA
January 16, 2012 5:46 pm
BASF, the German chemical giant, is to pull out of genetically modified plant development in Europe and relocate it to the US, where political and consumer resistance to GM crops is not so entrenched.
The headquarters of BASF Plant Science will move from Limburgerhof in south-west Germany to Raleigh, North Carolina, and two smaller sites in Germany and Sweden will close. The company will transfer some GM crop development to the US but stop work on crops targeted at the European market – four varieties of potato and one of wheat. The decision was based on seeing "no business sense to continue investing in products exclusively for cultivation in this market."
The decision, which involves the net loss of 140 highly skilled jobs in Europe, also signals the end of GM crop development for European farmers. Bayer, BASF’s German competitor, is working on GM cotton and rice in Ghent, Belgium – but not for European markets.
Decision to stop innovating for and in Europe are a loss not only for Europe as a whole and stand in stark contrast with the rapid adoption of this technology elsewhere in the world.
Plant scientists Europewide lamented BASF’s announcement. “The psychological damage is that it will tell the next young people who might want to go into plant science that they can’t bring anything exciting to market,” said Professor Jonathan Jones, a senior researcher at The Sainsbury Lab in Norwich, UK.
Some environmental campaigners like Friends of the Earth welcomed the decision, however.
January 16, 2012 5:46 pm
BASF, the German chemical giant, is to pull out of genetically modified plant development in Europe and relocate it to the US, where political and consumer resistance to GM crops is not so entrenched.
The headquarters of BASF Plant Science will move from Limburgerhof in south-west Germany to Raleigh, North Carolina, and two smaller sites in Germany and Sweden will close. The company will transfer some GM crop development to the US but stop work on crops targeted at the European market – four varieties of potato and one of wheat. The decision was based on seeing "no business sense to continue investing in products exclusively for cultivation in this market."
The decision, which involves the net loss of 140 highly skilled jobs in Europe, also signals the end of GM crop development for European farmers. Bayer, BASF’s German competitor, is working on GM cotton and rice in Ghent, Belgium – but not for European markets.
Decision to stop innovating for and in Europe are a loss not only for Europe as a whole and stand in stark contrast with the rapid adoption of this technology elsewhere in the world.
Plant scientists Europewide lamented BASF’s announcement. “The psychological damage is that it will tell the next young people who might want to go into plant science that they can’t bring anything exciting to market,” said Professor Jonathan Jones, a senior researcher at The Sainsbury Lab in Norwich, UK.
Some environmental campaigners like Friends of the Earth welcomed the decision, however.