GUARDIAN (London) / Friday December 1, 2000 / John Vidal
Five years ago, Monsanto planned to flood the world with GM crops and reap
the profits. Three years ago it received a bloody nose in Europe and had
to apologise to the British for misunderstanding their hostility.
Now, in a feast of humble pie, the world's leading biotech company has
admitted to the world that it has been arrogant, blind and insensitive and
has formally pledged to be "honourable, ethical and open" in all its
future actions.
The new Monsanto, said the corporation's president and chief executive
Hendrik Verfaillie, is now outwardly very different to the one which
promised to be part of the solution to world hunger and environmental
problems only five years ago.
Instead of trumpeting "faith, hope and prosperity", the genetically
modified line is now that biotechnology is a way to improve human health
and that Monsanto is contrite, listening and leading world business into
an ethical age.
"Even our friends told us we could be arrogant and insensitive," said Mr
Verfaillie of the company, which has merged with the pharmaceutical giants
Pharmacia and Upjohn.
"We were blinded by our enthusiasm," he told a Washington audience this
week. "We missed the fact that this technology raises major issues for
people - of ethics, of choice, of trust, even of democracy and
globalisation. When we tried to explain the benefits, the science and the
safety, we did not understand that our tone - our very approach - was
arrogant."
Mr Verfaillie said he believed biotechnology was now "at a watershed" and
that society everywhere had changed.
"The shift that started 40 years ago is approaching maturity," he said.
"It is a movement from a 'trust me' society to a 'show me' society. We
don't trust government - and thus government rulemaking and regulation is
suspect. We don't trust companies - or the new technologies they introduce
into the marketplace. We were still in the 'trust me' mode when the
expectation was 'show me'."
From now on, he said, the new Monsanto would be ethical and to prove it it
had published a five-point pledge of new commitments which were, he said,
unprecedented in the biotechnology industry.
"We commit to respecting the religious, cultural and ethical concerns of
people," said Mr Verfaillie. "[Monsanto] will not sell grain products
until they have been approved for consumption by both humans and animals;
nor will [Monsanto] use genes taken from animal or human sources in our
agricultural products intended for food or feed, or sell foods in which
known allergens have been introduced." And he promised not to pursue
technologies that resulted in sterile, or so-called terminator, seeds.
The company has been criticised for imposing GM farming on poor countries.
No longer. The new Monsanto will, according to its chief, "bring the
knowledge and advantages of all forms of agriculture to resource-poor
farmers in the developing world to help improve food security and protect
the environment".
To those who accuse Monsanto of having consistently evaded government
regulations, he promised to work legally, probably a first in corporate
history.
In response to critics who have alleged the company is secretive about
sharing its research, he said it would now publish all scientific data and
data summaries on product safety.
Yesterday the company's many critics around the world were congratulating
it on its pledges but were mostly hoping it would pledge to go away.
"Sweet isn't it," said a Friends of the Earth spokesman. "Here's a company
with its back to the wall and its technology going down the tube. We
welcome its pledges but it must face up to the fact that people do not
want its food."
"We have read the commitments," said an Indian anti-GM activist who has
been marching with many thousands of small farmers against Monsanto and
other giant companies. "They are very fine. But a tiger is not a pussy
cat. If it has large whiskers it is probably still a tiger with a plan to
gobble you up even faster."
Monsanto, said its chief, had set up "a dedicated team to facilitate its
pledges and share its GM technology with public institutions, charities
and industry round the world".
Yesterday the Guardian asked the Monsanto HQ switchboard to be put through to one of the team. The call was met with an answering machine.
