Major blow for biotech as Bayer stops GM research in India

Sustainable agriculture in action

London, 15th November 2004 - In a major blow to the future of genetically modified (GM) crops in the developing world, GM company Bayer has announced that it has stopped all its work on creating new GM crops in India. In a letter to Greenpeace Bayer claims that the decision to stop GM research was "due to changes in our global research strategy," and concedes that all work on GM cabbage, cauliflower, aubergine, tomato and mustard seed has stopped. 1 The company will now only concentrate on conventional plant breeding.

This is the third major setback that Bayer's GM plans have received in the past year. In March Bayer announced it would not be commercialising GM maize in the UK because its future was "economically non-viable." 2 Three months later the company stopped all trials of GM Oilseed Rape in Australia, effectively ending any chance of widespread cultivation the crop had. 3,4

Greenpeace Campaigner Doreen Stabinsky said, "Bayer's decision to give up the GM ghost in India isn't surprising because the writing has been on the wall for years. Like almost everyone else, Indian people aren't prepared to accept GM foods and Bayer realised it had to stop flogging a dead horse."

The significance of Bayer's decision cannot be overestimated. India has a population of over 1 billion and with 80 percent of the population involved in agriculture, its market for agro-chemical and seed companies is enormous. Bayers withdrawal from GM research is part of a larger pattern of retreat in the global GM industry. Earlier this year, in a high profile about-face, Monsanto abandoned GM wheat research. Like Bayer, Monsanto has also shelved work on GM Oilseed Rape in Australia.

Stabinsky added, "Unfortunately for the GM industry popular resistance to GM is as strong as ever. People don't want to eat GM food, and whilst that might not be encouraging for Bayer and its shareholders, it's good news for farmers and the environment."

Further information
Contact the Greenpeace Press Office on 020 7865 8255 or Doreen Stabinsky on +1-202-285-7398.

Notes
1 See a copy of the letter sent to Greenpeace India from Bayer CropScience.
2 Bayer CropScience discontinues further efforts to commercialise GM forage maize in the UK. Bayer CropScience UK, 31st March 2004
3 Bayer Crop Science pulls out of GM canola trials in Australia. SeedQuest News, 3rd June 2004
4 GM canola decision disappointing. Bayer CropScience Australia, 26th March 2004