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Biotech firms on Asian offensive, says Greenpeace

Waning confidence in genetically modified products in Europe, Japan and the United States has led the biotech industry to target developing Asian countries like India, Greenpeace said on Friday.

"In a desperate attempt to protect their profit margin, the biotech industry is now shifting its sights to Asia where public understanding of the issue is still low," the environmental lobby group said in a statement released in New Delhi.

"Unless they secure this important Asian foothold, they are as good as dead," said Greenpeace genetic engineering specialist Isabelle Meister.

Greenpeace and other lobby groups insist that genetic engineering can harm beneficial insects, cause genetic erosion, create new plant viruses and increase farmers' dependence on agricultural chemicals.

Friday's statement said multinational corporations -- spearheaded by US agro-chemical giant Monsanto -- were on a "major offensive" to promote genetic engineering in Asian countries like India, Thailand, China and the Philippines.

In India, the government has already declared biotechnology a flagship programme and is actively promoting field testing of Monsanto's genetically modified cotton.

"It is disturbing to see the manner in which permission for field tests has been given," said Michelle Chawla, genetic engineering campaigner for Greenpeace in India.

"Aside from satisfying the needs of a desperate industry, the government is clueless about the potentially far reaching impacts," she added.

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