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BASF Moves GM Plant Research From Europe To US
ananyo writes "The German chemical giant BASF is moving its transgenic plant operations from Europe to the U.S., it says, because of widespread opposition to the technology. The company on 16 January announced that it would move its plant science headquarters from Limburgerhof, Germany to Raleigh, North Carolina and no longer develop plants solely for cultivation in Europe. The division employs 157 people in Limburgerhof, plus another 63 at facilities elsewhere in Europe. BASF said it would relocate 123 of those jobs to the North Carolina facility. In statement, Stefan Marcinowski, a member of BASF's Board of Executive Directors, cited 'a lack of acceptance for this technology in many parts of Europe – from the majority of consumers, farmers and politicians.' The company instead plans to focus on plant biotechnology markets in the Americas and Asia."
And freak food that is genetically modified in an unbridled fashion ! what more can one ask .........
Read radical news here
The BASF facility in RTP has never been terribly large and/or important when compared to their neighbors.
These jobs will be a nice addition to the area and help elevate Biotech even further.
Thanks Limburgerhof!!!
"Murderer? Well, that's a harsh word. I prefer to think of myself as a Mortality Technician."
You have to admit, you weren't expecting to read that headline.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
Europeans aren't anti-science, they're against GM modified crops because they fear it's not safe. They don't want to be experimented on. I don't see GM modified crops as a problem, if they are tested for safety properly. But I would rather err on the safe side.
Wow!
BASF still exists? To me BASF is this, and I haven't heard them since. :)
/greger
This is nothing new, for years business has been shifting manufacturing to impoverished countries to take advantage of cheap labour. They are just thinking ahead!
I got to the chocolate box before you, that's why the hard ones have teeth marks.
If the UPC starts with 9, it's organic.
If it starts with 8, it's GM.
If there's another number, it's conventionally farmed.
For once, lazy programming helps slashdotters.
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ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
And they are against GM food, because it's patent creep - doodle around in a little corner of the genome and patent the whole plant afterwards, thus gaining power over all people doing business with similar plants and destroying traditonal seed circulation.
And that fear is an irrational fear of the science behind it. Many of the crops have been in use for several decades and proven not only safe but in the case of corn, highly effective at reducing pesticide use yet they are still banned in Europe. Not because there is any evidence showing that they are bad, but because the public at large fears them. In fact there has been lots of studies showing a complete lack of harm and not a single study showing harm yet they are still banned.
They were erring on the safe side in the first 5 years this stuff was used, 20 years down the road they aren't on the safe side anymore, they are on irrational side. And yes it is most certainly anti-science (anti crop science), it's just a different variety than the kind in the US.
Sue, Crush. They are so interchangable in the US.
On that note, seeing as plants cross polinate out in the wold, I wonder who gets to sue the poor farmer whose normal crops are pollinated by both Monsanto's and BASF's genetically modified strands.
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
In Europe the market gets to decide if they want GMO food. That happens because they have labeling and menu laws that require the disclosure. It's capitalism at work. BASF is free to grow all the GMO it wants. But they have to sell GMO to the consumers. Here in the US you can pretty much put what you want into foods without nearly as much disclosure.
"if they are tested for safety properly" Right. With emphasis on "properly". Any GMO research done by the industry itself can obviously not be trusted, unless you are extremely naive and gullible. Let's see what independent researchers say about it: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/13/opinion/la-oe-guriansherman-seeds-20110213 Oh, wait. I find it pathetic that this "Anti-Science" garbage is thrown around any time someone is skeptic of something presented under the guise of "science". Perhaps that's part of the strategy though. Use some critical thinking, people, if you are capable of it.
Just as those who doubt humans are causing global warming, because its a conspiracy of socialist to screw them over somehow*.
Just as those who doubt evolution, because its just a theory and not a fact like gravity.
* ( never really understood that one, so its tought to parody).
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
I keep waiting for all this "frankenfood" the Luddites promise I'll see, but all we get are more resiliant, disease and pest resistant crops that have the potential to feed the starving, etc etc.
Where are my grapples (grapes the size of apples)? Where is my chocolate flavored bananas that grow in a temperate environment? Where is the wheat I can bake into a pizza crust that has all my RDA vitamins along with a weight-loss ingreiant?
And god dangit, where are my real booberries?
Maybe. The thing is no one knows for sure the effects of GM on human bodies, animal bodies, plant bodies and Evolution in general, over a long period of time.
Marie Curie discovered the radium (1898) and died of its poisoning (1934), unknown at the time.
Time will tell.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
30 years of Conservative ideology has finally paid off.
Is it so irrational? Look at Japan. People there believed in progress, in technology, with an almost religious fervour. Until a disaster laid bare not flaws in the science, mind you, but flaws in the humans profiting off it. The same goes for our European anti-GM sentiments: Do you in all seriousness trust the likes of Monsanto or BASF not to put cash over lives? No matter how sound the science behind GM is, there already are enough reasons to be very mindful of what food I buy. And all of them are down to some greedy fucks trying to skim off just a little bit more. I do not need another layer of adverse interests thrown into the mix.
Rudolf Hess edited Mein Kampf. He was the very first grammar nazi.
In 1992, the FDA declared that biotech foods were the same as conventional foods – because the biotech companies said so. The number 8 was then instituted since the produce industry thought consumers would prefer genetically modified food moreso than conventionally grown food. It did not take long for them to find out differently. Although the number 8 designation can still be found, it is rare. The biotech industry is also fighting any sort of labeling for their inventions – now that they know consumers really do not want them. As it stands now, Hawaiian papaya is about the only food you will find that has the number 8 in front of it.
These are not $20/hr union jobs. These are high paid science and technology jobs.
I assume they are going into Raleigh because it is part of the Research Triangle.
One problem with that notion. Europeans oppose publicly funded research that would not have that problem too. Ever heard of the potatoes at the University of Ghent, the government funded grape rootstocks in France, or the government funded wheat & potatoes and apples in Germany? Destroyed. Meanwhile, I've never heard of them having any problem with patented non-GE plants. Maybe the patents factor into it, but you really can't take the patent or corporate angle here. The main issue is the science. They're against genetic engineering and ALL GE crops, regardless of specific circumstances, period, and they're not going to let nuance or facts or science change their minds about that.
It's funny - the IP/Patent Creep angle is actually the most compelling and possibly only legitimate argument against GM food. If this is the real reason behind the protesting, then it's doing the right thing (fighting GM food) for the right reason (Patent Creep / IP / Corporate greed controlling food)
However, I bet there really are a lot of "frankenfood" protestors there too.. folks who are doing the right thing (fighting GM food) for the wrong reason. I worry about that crowd because it's like handing the corporate apologists a giant strawman.
The Digital Sorceress
We have to stop this shopping around for the country with the loosest morals!
It starts here, but before you know it, they'll be migrating good jobs to countries with appalling labour and environmental practices because those low morals make manufacturing cheaper! Up to 40,000 factories in the US could be lost this way!
Oh, wait, my briefing paper says "1982" not "2012". Damn. What? It already happened?
Never mind...
Milk's issue for Celiac disease sufferers is generally due to the lack of cilia. If you're gluten-free long enough to regenerate them, you should be fine with milk again. It's not because there's little gluten proteins in your GM milk. And in what world is genetically modified corn harmful to people with Celiac disease?
Maybe you don't have supermarkets in Europe, but there are tons of them here in the US. They always have a gluten-free section in the natural foods area, and many of our other products have dropped an ingredient and are now gluten-free as well (especially cereals). I don't know what frozen foods you're buying, but I constantly read labels and straight frozen vegetables and meat are always safe. Do you mean the frozen prepared meals? Here, you just need to be prepared to go to the right part of the store for those (and pay 3-5 times as much money). I even know local pizza places that have gluten-free options now.
I hate to sound like a jerk, but I'm surprised you haven't done more research on your disease. There's a lot of information on it out there, and life doesn't suck for you like it would have 20 years ago.
OK.
1. Failure to use turn signal.
2. Speeding.
3. Driving while intoxicated.
That's three.
You are welcome on my lawn.
GMO is not about making plants that produce more, or are resistant to cold or heat or drought.
It is the control of the food supply, that is what it is about.
Ask any Biologist, and they will tell you, genetically creating strains of identical plant lines to maximize a trait is a truly dangerous thing to do. Whenever you take and engineer biological entities such as plants, that are gentically identical and create entire artificial eco systems that have low diversity, or in the case of GMO, _NO_ diversity, all sorts of catastrophic destruction can happen to the population.
Whether it be a GERM, a BUG or BAD WEATHER, having a food supply that is genetically diverse and NOT engineered is the safest and will produce the most food, consistently over a wide variety of environmental conditions.
GMO has got to be the worst possible idea of all time. It won't produce food for anyone except the rich, and it will not produce food that has the ecological diversity requirements to provide a safe consistent yield.
It isn't by accident you know, they will not put GMO labels on food. They know it is not safe, and they do not want you to know about it.
GMO also is causing massive extinction rates in our grain crops from gene contamination. If this isn't stopped, there won't be any grain species left that are safe to eat.
-Hack
Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.
Allow non-GMO modified producers to label their products as such.
They are allowed. Walk down the organic section of your local supermarket and you'll see tons of stuff with 'non-GMO' on the label.
The thing is no one knows for sure the effects of GM on human bodies, animal bodies, plant bodies and Evolution in general, over a long period of time.
That, by definition, is true for anything. There is always the possibility of an unknown unknown. However, that notion cannot be falsified and as such is a poor point. A better question would be if any of the genes inserted into GE crops pose known any risk. Right now, the few that are (EPSPS protein, various cry proteins, bar enzyme, CMV/PRV coat protein) do not. The moment anyone has evidence supporting the notion that there is any harm from these, or any other inserted protein (since that must be taken on a case by case basis), or the process itself (though strangely not any other plant improvement method) then maybe that notion will have merit.
Also, I notice you're not applying the same logic to any given conventionally bred trait. You could ask the same question about the Cry1Ab gene as you could the sd-1 gene, and it would make about as much sense. The comparison I like to use is lets say you decided to apply that thinking to the smallpox vaccine. Hey, it might have some long term potential but as of yet unsubscribed side effect that could hurt a lot of people, so should it have been used. Yes, because you have to consider KNOWN facts, not what-ifs that may or may not (probably the latter) actually exist.
You don't unjderstand, Rix. There's an excellent reason for Europe to believe they are unsafe. It was promoted that way for some time.
Given the fact that US agriculture can undercut the cost of production in France and Belgium etc, The politicians there were quite happy to use protectionist trade policies to protect local farms etc. Sadly for them, that's limited by the WTO and international agreements. (The US is guilty of it too, so it's hardly unique to them.)
But, if you can make it a food safety issue, it's exempt. So, this was promoted not just by the actual anti-gmo sorts, but also the farm lobbies, local ag/food business and politicians.
But, some of the European ag industry is realizing they're losing ground in some areas due to foregoing the advantages of GMO. (Witness the repeated incidents of farmers smuggling in GMO seeds due to the better yields and lower production costs.)
Now, the Europeans have to deal with the phantom they themselves created for trade reasons. And it's damned hard to undo sowing fear in your consumers.
Given that I'm surrounded by agri-genetics work of all sorts locally (east central Illinois), I'm quite happy for yet another European company to bring the work here. And, yes, they'll find a lot of highly skilled ag types to hire here.
BASF is certainly not the first nor will it be the last.
Safety of consumption is just one of the safety concerns. A much bigger problem is crosspollination, and escaping to the wild, messing up the ecosystem. By these standards even safely consumable GMO plants aren't safe.
In many parts of Africa, it isn't so much fear of the crops themselves (although I'm sure there is some of that too, especially among wealthy Africans) as it is fear of losing their export market to Europe. Some African countries really need that market, so because Europe rejects GE crops, then in order to prevent their ability to export to Europe secure, those countries ban GE crops as well. This basically means that because Europeans are scientifically illiterate the people who need agricultural science the most end up going without. The corn shipment you mention for example, it is likely that someone didn't want the local farmers to take a few seeds and grow it, so whoever was calling the shots decided to let everyone starve while claiming it was for their own good (IIRC they did accept other corn shipments provided it was ground into cornmeal first). Granted, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some local politics going on too, but I know that trade issues are probably a big part of it...heck, that's even how it is in Europe. It isn't that GE crops were found to be unsafe in Europe, it is that they know the US & Canada can out compete their farmers, so in order to enact protectionist measures without violating WTO laws, they claimed to think that the GE crops used in the US & Canada are unsafe. Hooray for the triumph of politics over science and humanitarianism.
Also, I've never heard anything linking GE crops to DNA damage (although I'm sure someone out there has claimed it). That sounds pretty unlikely. There are only a few proteins currently inserted into GE crops: cry proteins, the epsps protein, the bar enzyme, and virus coat proteins. I can't imagine how any of these could possibly damage DNA.
Good riddance, glad to see this moving out of the EU. For you guys on the other side of the Atlantic... hope you realize what is coming. We don't accept it here in Europe and you shouldn't either.
Tentacles are, evolutionarily, a gateway to intelligence. They're excellent tool-manipulation appendages, and one presumes they would be "free" and not used for locomotion. Generally speaking, intelligence is a maladaptive trait and natural selection works against it (which is why it's so rare). After all, it consumes a lot of calories but offers pretty much no practical value to an animal that can't communicate or use any kind of tool. But give a cow tentacles (or any other suitable tool using appendage, such as our own which were designed for hanging on to tree branches) and you could reverse that trend.
Personally, I don't want to eat anything smarter than a pig (including octopuses, primates, etc) and I'm frankly not all that sure about pigs, but I choose to believe they aren't as smart as some think simply because they're really, really delicious. I certainly don't want you fostering a new super-race of smart cows. Not only would I not feel comfortable eating them, but I'm afraid they might judge us harshly.