Monsanto to stop seeking GMO approval in Europe

Monsanto, the world's largest producer of agricultural seedsand a giant in the field of agricultural biotechnology, is halting its efforts tolobby European governments to allowthe cultivation of its genetically modified plants and seeds, a German newspaper has reported.

The Berlin newspaper Tageszeitung (Taz)reportedlast weekthat Monsanto, which produces seeds, herbicides and other agricultural products and whose name has become synonymous with all things GMO, won't be pursuing licences for any new genetically modified plants or doing any new field trials of GMO seeds in most parts of western Europe.

'It's counterproductive to fight against windmills' Monsanto spokesperson Ursula Luettmer-Ouazane

"We have come to understand that, at the moment, it doesn't have broad acceptance," Ursula Luettmer-Ouazane, Monsanto's spokesperson for Germany, told the Taz newspaper. "It's counterproductive to fight against windmills."

The demand for GMO seeds among European farmers is not high enough to warrant continued lobbying for approval of new products, a company spokesperson told the paper.

What's more, several Europeanjurisdictions have outright banned the cultivation ofsome GMOs. Germany, for example, bannedthe cultivation of Monsanto's genetically modified maize,MON 810, in 2009. France, Austria,Hungaryand other countries have also tried to buck EU legislation approving the cropand ban the corn, which is only one of two genetically modifiedcrops to have been approved for cultivation in the European Union. The other is theAmflora potato made by BASF, which stopped selling its GMOs for cultivation in Europe last year after widespread opposition.

"There is still a lack of acceptance for this technology in many parts of Europe from the majority of consumers, farmers and politicians," BASF board memberStefan Marcinowski told the New York Times at the time.

Other big GMO players such as Syngenta and Bayer CropSciences have also pulled back from the European market.

A Monsantospokesperson told Taz that the U.S.-based multinational companywill continue to sell MON 810 in Spain, Portugal and Romania, where there is greater acceptance ofthe productthan in other parts of Europe. It will alsostill try to get the European Union to approve the import of GMO-containing cattle feed.

GMO opposition stronger in Europe

Consumers and governmentsin Europe have rejected genetically modified foodmore widely than those in other parts of the world, including North America. Theopposition to GMOsstems from a fear of potential health risks and the rise of agricultural monocultures, whichare perceived as being bad for the diversity of local agriculture and the food supply.

Even though there has been no evidence to date that GMOs have any harmful health effects on humans, the anti-GMO campaign has been gaining strength around the world in recent years. Last month, a global "March Against Monsanto" drew thousands of people into the streets in several countries, including Canada.Organizers said the march drew as many as two million people in more than 400 cities in 52 countries.

For Europe's agricultural industry, genetic technology has not been the salvation that it was promised to be, Germany's minister of agriculture, Ilse Aigner,told the Taz newspaper.