Green and consumer groups on Wednesday claimed one of their greatest successes in a decade as the German biotech company Bayer withdrew its application to grow a variety of genetically modified (GM) maize in Britain, saying that constraints imposed upon it by the United Kingdom government had made the crop uneconomic.
Although Bayer said it was committed to growing GM crops in the UK, none is likely to be planted now for at least four years.
The decision will embarrass the UK government, which only three weeks ago gave the firm permission to grow the maize for two years, and which has fought for more than seven years for the crops to be introduced. No other crops are in the regulatory pipeline, and few GM firms are now expected to apply to grow them in Britain, which has a global reputation for being ”GM unfriendly”.
A spokesperson for the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs this week shrugged off Bayer’s decision. ”We do not apologise for the fact there is a tough EU-wide regulatory regime on GMs. This is a commercial decision and Bayer have decided to withdraw their application.”
Anti-GM groups and opposition parties called on the government to review its strategy. ”This is the death-knell in the short term for GM crops in Britain. The only GM crop with a government green light now doesn’t even have the support of its manufacturer,” said a Greenpeace spokesperson.
Michael Meacher, the former environment minister and a leading GM critic, said: ”The government has been saved from itself and the electoral furore which would have followed [GM] licensing.”
However, there was intense speculation about why Bayer pulled out. The firm cited government constraints, but no decisions had been made on distances separating conventional and GM crops, or about who should compensate farmers for genetic ”pollution”.
Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace believe that the GM crop, Chardon LL, may have been withdrawn because it was widely considered outdated. This was supported by Vivian Moses, the director of the biotech industry lobby group CropGen. ”New maize strains have a commercial life of five years and Chardon was already old hat,” he said. — Â