As the year closed, the Conseil d'Etat upheld a ban on the planting of Novartis Bt-maize in France. The decision means the first genetically engineered crop planted on European soil for commercial growing remains illegal in the country which proposed its EU approval

In reaching a verdict of scepticism on the market approval of Novartis maize, the French court has endorsed a long-held Greenpeace view that the 'precautionary' principle would be breached by planting a crop which kills beneficial insects and which harbours a gene conferring antibiotic resistance.

As part of a long-running campaign to inform and advise consumers in France and Germany, Greenpeace demonstrated that a genetically modified crop had contaminated neighbouring maize fields by 'outbreeding' toxic traits to ordinary plants. With the support of farmers, Greenpeace activists harvested some 4.5 tonnes of Novartis transgenic maize and delivered the crop to the company's headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. As part of a long-running campaign to inform and advise consumers in France and Germany, Greenpeace demonstrated that a genetically modified crop had contaminated neighbouring maize fields by 'outbreeding' toxic traits to ordinary plants. With the support of farmers, Greenpeace activists harvested some 4.5 tonnes of Novartis transgenic maize and delivered the crop to the company's headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Novartis maize remains under ban in Austria, Luxembourg and Norway. In fact, safety disputes between EU member states have effectively halted further approvals of genetically modified crops. When Greenpeace stopped a US barge containing transgenic maize on the Rhine at the border between Germany and Switzerland, the shipment was sent back to the importer by Swiss police. The US industry claims to have forfeited European markets to the tune of $200m during 1998.

Appropriate measures
As part of a long-running campaign against the cultivation and export to Brazil by Monsanto of genetically engineered soyabeans, Greenpeace filed a legal action against the import and approval there of 'Roundup-ready' soyabeans tailored to withstand the Roundup herbicide which kills green plants. While the courts judged approval procedures for the crop illegal and called for the strict segregation of genetically modified organisms, the governor of Brazil's biggest soyabean province declared Rio Grande del Sul a 'GMO-free zone'.

When the United States Department of Agriculture proposed new guidelines for organic farming which included the use of genetically modified organisms, some 250,000 signatories objected. Working closely with organic farming organisations across America, Greenpeace has since taken court action to prevent the use of transgenic Bt-plants, including Novartis maize. The US Environmental Protection Agency has failed to agree appropriate measures to prevent such plants creating 'superbugs' - that is, insects resistant to the Bt-toxin which in its natural form is used as a biological pesticide.

"When the next book about great public relations disasters is written, it's a safe bet it will be dominated by the story of Monsanto's woes. It's the biggest business fiasco since Shell became the target of public outrage over its plans to sink the Brent Spar"
Richard Tomkins, Financial Times

Consumer concern
Today, the segregation of transgenic from natural crops is proving itself commercially. Having claimed from the outset that viable segregation was a virtual impossibility, dominant grain dealers including ADM and Cargill are now offering segregated maize and soya products.

The consumer, meanwhile, remains at the centre of moves and countermoves in a giant experimental game without clear rules. Increasingly informed and increasingly vocal, concerned individuals can and do have an impact in the global marketplace.

After British supermarket chain Iceland became the first to declare its products entirely free of genetically modified organisms, others were quick to follow suit. When 250,000 citizens joined the Greenpeace Ôconsumer net' to protest against GMOs in their foods, lists of manufacturers committed to renouncing GMOs were distributed to households all over Europe. And although an EU labelling scheme for genetically modified foods was dismissed during 1998 as having too many loopholes, it forced European neighbour states to line up together against the US which opposes any labelling of genetically modified crops.