www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Prof. Dr. Marc Van Montagu, Chairman International Plant Biotechnology
Organisation (IPBO)[1] Gent University and president of the European
Federation of Biotechnology, told journalists at a press conference in
Brussels, that Europe is missing out on the biotech revolution in
agriculture, January 2006.

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
ISAAA[2], The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech
Applications, 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[3] and
Devgen[4] - 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[5] 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[6], 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.

For more information, contact

[1] International Plant Biotechnology Organisation (IPBO) IPO mission is
training, technology transfer and plant biotechnology research oiented
towards the needs of the developing countries. [www.ipbo.rug.ac.be]

[2] 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.
www.isaaa.org

[3] CropDesign - www.cropdesign.com

[4] Devgen - www.devgen.com

[5] 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.
[www.europabio.org]

[6] European Technology Platform - Plants for the Future
[www.epsoweb.org]

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.

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