Europeans Hate Genetically-Manipulated Foods, Monsanto Blamed
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[Excerpted from Daniel J. DeNoon's Insider NewsFile via NewsEdge Corporation,
November 17, 1998]
Europeans already are united on one issue: they hate genetically engineered
food, polls show.
Angry biotechnology firms blame U.S. industry leader Monsanto for a public
relations disaster that has crippled short-term prospects for European
acceptance of engineered food, according to an article by
writer Andy Coghlan in the October 31, 1998 issue of New Scientist magazine.
"We have a PR mountain to climb," Willy de Greef, head of regulatory and
government affairs at Novatis Seeds, Basel, Switzerland, told Coghlan.
"You have a problem if the market leader has firmly set ideas
about how to do things, which others might not agree with."
An anonymous European industry insider used far harsher language, telling
Coghlan that Monsanto is guilty of "arrogant stupidity."