GM bubble set to burst newspaper
28 August 2001
GM bubble set to burst newspaper
By FWi staff
STATIC profits and reduced investment by multinational food companies suggest that the global GM bubble may have burst, claims The Guardian.
Tighter laws and consumer health doubts have helped to slow the growth of genetically-modified technology, according to the paper.
Sergey Vasnetsov, a leading chemical industry analyst on Wall Street, said the euphoria had gone from the industry and growth had fallen significantly.
The outlook [for the GM industry] is less certain than it was three years ago.
The market is not expanding and research budgets are down 5-7% on five years ago. Conceptually, the value of [GM foods] has come down, he said.
The comments came on the same day that scientists at Dundee University are reported to have created the first genetically modified English elm tree.
The GM elms, which according to The Guardian have already reached 1.5 m in height, are designed to be resistant to Dutch elm disease.
More than 25 million of the 30 million elm trees in Britain were killed by Dutch elm disease between the late 1960s and 1990s.
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