News section

home  |  news  |  solutions  |  forum  |  careers  |  calendar  |  yellow pages  |  advertise  |  contacts

 

Europe is missing out on the agricultural biotech revolution, says pioneering agbiotech scientist
Brussels, Belgium
January 19, 2006

Prof. Dr. Marc Van Montagu, Chairman, International Plant Biotechnology Organisation (IPBO), Gent University and president of the European Federation of Biotechnology, told journalists at a press conference in Brussels, today, that Europe is missing out on the biotech revolution in agriculture. Europe is lagging behind its worldwide competitors and European farmers are deprived of access to one of the fastest growing technologies in agriculture.  Marc Van Montagu is the inventor of the technology to create genetically modified (GM) plants and produced the first GM plant in Europe. He is convinced that technology transfer and plant biotechnology research oriented to the needs of the developing countries is important: “Fighting the vicious circle of hunger and poverty is the most urgent task that faces our society, and will require a reformulation of current models of agriculture,” he said.

The European Union is far behind its competitors in terms of number of hectares under GM cultivation. The new figures published last week by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), show that in 2005 the number of hectares globally cultivated with GM crops increased by 9.0 million hectares. Among the growing number of countries cultivating GM crops, five of them are EU Member States, which is encouraging for Europe but still remains low in global terms.

Two of Europe’s leading Agro biotech companies – CropDesign and Devgen – are in the frontline in developing and working on agricultural biotechnologies. Both companies are strong advocates for these technologies. Their R&D activities are important for Europe in its quest towards a strong, knowledge based economy. “The fact that Europe is lagging behind in the commercialization of GM-crops doesn't make things easier for young R&D driven companies”, says Johan Vanhemelrijck, EuropaBio Secretary General.” The question is how many companies decided not to start up in this area in Europe, and how many opportunities have we lost to maintain our leadership?”

Dr Van Montagu praised the European Commission supported European stakeholder forum on plant genomics and biotechnology, “Plants for the Future", which sets out a 20 year vision and a Strategic Research Agenda for European agricultural development for the next two decades as being a good example of supporting the plant science research and industry community who want to reap the benefits of agricultural biotechnologies. All speakers hope that the implementation of the EU regulation concerning GM-crops is encouraging at the national level, which will open the way towards a sustainable use of a very useful technology.

International Plant Biotechnology Organisation (IPBO)
IPBO mission is training, technology transfer and plant biotechnology research oiented towards the needs of the developing countries.

ISAAA
The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) is a not-for-profit organization that delivers the benefits of new agricultural biotechnologies to the poor in developing countries.  It aims to share these powerful technologies to those who stand to benefit from them and at the same time establish an enabling environment for their safe use.

EuropaBio
EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, has 60 direct members operating worldwide and 25 national biotechnology associations representing some 1500 small and medium sized enterprises involved in research and development, testing, manufacturing and distribution of biotechnology products.

Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Bioechnology (VIB)
VIB is a non-profit scientific research institute.  Using advanced gene technology, VIB studies the functioning of the human body, plants and microorganisms.

News release

Other news from this source

14,617

Back to main news page

The news release or news item on this page is copyright © 2006 by the organization where it originated.
The content of the SeedQuest website is copyright © 1992-2006 by SeedQuest - All rights reserved
Fair Use Notice