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

Michael Pragnell is not a man to indulge in rhetoric. But when it comes to
the issue of bio fuels, the English CEO of the Swiss agrichemical business
is suddenly willing to speak his mind: "Without green biotechnology, the C02
and bio fuel targets of the EU and those laid down by the USA will be
impossible to attain," Pragnell comments. He adds: "People in Europe too
will be obliged to acknowledge that fact." March 2007 by Markus Städeli.

Greenpeace has recently sparked of the genetic engineering controversy in
Europe once again. The environmental protection organization claims that a
genetically modified maize made by Monsanto has caused liver and kidney
damage to experimental animals.

Monsanto strongly contests these accusations. lt points out that the first
generation of biotech seed materials has been on the market for eleven years
and is already being grown on 10 per cent of all farm land, Pragnell
comments. "The resulting products have proved absolutely safe to man and
nature."

The bio fuel boom has adverse consequences

However, opposition to this technology remains strong. On the other hand,
the genetic engineering industry does now see an opportunity to permanently
clean up its somewhat tarnished Image. It hopes that the bioethanol boom
will help here.

Next year, Syngenta plans to launch a genetically modified maize called
maize amylase. Pragnell promises an efficiency gain in ethanol manufacture.
He is not prepared to quantity this gain as yet, because approval of the
dossier is still pending with the health authorities. We will have to wait
for large scale production of ethanol with the new crops to begin to see
just how great the gain in fact is.

"These large scale trials are planned for next year, once the authorities
have given us the green light for maize amylase." The Syngenta CEO regards
maize amylase as no more than a first step: "Up to 40 per cent of all maize
and sugar cane crops cannot be used at present for ethanol production,"
according to Pragnell. "With the next generation of biotech seed materials,
we want to ensure that the whole plant and every kind of biomass can be
converted into fuel."

The Danish biotech company Novozymes hopes to see an early solution to this
problem. "A technical solution for the conversion of cellulose into
bioethanol can probably be launched commercially in four to five years
time," according to Poul Ruben Andersen, Biofuels Marketing Manager.

The company has already been visited by George W. Bush. The US President
also reached agreement recently with the Brazilian Head of State Lula da
Silva to cooperate on ethanol manufacture.

The Syngenta CEO is convinced that the food industry will not be able to
dispense in future with improved seed materials either; this in turn means
biotechnology.

"The world population is expected to grow from the present figure of 6.5
billion to more than 9 billion in the year 2050. But farmland is a finite
resource." In addition, there is competition with the bioethanol producers
for the scarce crops. "New technologies are needed to increase yields."

Technical solutions are indeed necessary. The bioethanol boom is having
adverse secondary effects even before It really gets off the ground. The
price of maize, which is processed in the USA on a massive scale to obtain
bioethanol, has massively increased in the space of just twelve months.
There is a fight between the food industry and the energy companies to get
their hands on the scarce resources. The higher price of maize has also
brought some steep rises in the price of Mexican tortillas, chicken and
ketchup.

Things are not much better in Brazil, the world's largest bioethanol
producer. In that country faster destruction of the ram forest is likely in
an effort to win new arable land on which to grow sugar cane.

The Heads of State gave no thought to that aspect when they recently laid
down ambitious bioethanol targets: the EU plans in future to add 10 per cent
of bio fuels to its petrol, while the USA even has a figure of 15 per cent
in mind.

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