By Sybille de la Hamaide
Europe will increase its genetically modified (GMO) crop area by
50,000-100,000 hectares a year over the next decade, US biotech giant
Monsanto has said.
"It will be slow but within ten years GMOs will have reached the point
of no return," said Jean-Michel Duhamel, Monsanto's director for southern
Europe.

"The technology will not impose itself on consumers but consumers will
better understand the usefulness of GMO technology as farmers increasingly
adopt it," he added.

In France, the world's largest seed maker, GMO maize - the only
biotech crop allowed in the country - was expected to be grown on 600,000
hectares in ten years, against 25,000 in 2007, despite fierce opposition to
GMOs in the country.

"It is more complicated in France than elsewhere but if we reach a 50
per cent rise (in area) per year it wouldn't be bad, as at world level we
expect it to rise 20 per cent," Duhamel said.

French consumers are well known for their scepticism, if not
hostility, to GMO crops. "Within the next few years there will likely be
some turbulence," Duhamel said. "Consumers receive false information on what
GMO crops are so they are afraid. But I'm sure that within ten years they
will have accepted them."

This year, French farmers have sown 25,000 hectares of special maize,
which has been modified to resist insect pests.


[thescotsman.scotsman.com]