The Express

Novartis Warns Of GM Ban Disaster

British farmers face ruin if the ban on the commercial planting of genetically modified crops is extended until 2001, Swiss drugs giant Novartis warned yesterday.

Novartis, one of the companies at the forefront of GM research, also attacked the "irrational emotions" aroused by the debate over so-called "Frankenstein foods" and claimed the controversial technology was safe.

The Government is reported to have agreed a voluntary three-year moratorium with the biotechnology industry in response to growing consumer concern. Wolfgang Samo, head of Novartis' agribusiness division, said: "If the moratorium takes that long it will put European farmers in a very difficult position. US farmers have already been using this technology for three years and they will have built up a five-year lead. European farming could be totally outmoded."

On Monday the Government denied a secret deal with GM companies such as Novartis, Zeneca and Monsanto to change the terms of the current two-year ban on commercial planting.

Novartis yesterday insisted no talks about the issue had taken place with Whitehall officials.

Estimates put the potential market for GM products at as much as 70billion a year, but adverse publicity about the new technology has prompted a number of leading British supermarkets - including Iceland, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer - to remove GM ingredients from own-label products.

Novartis chairman Alex Krauer admitted consumer resistance to GM foods was having a negative impact. But he said: "Over the long term the benefits of this technology will prevail."The company, best known for Ovaltine and Nicotinell anti-smoking patches, announced a 16 per cent rise in profits last year to SFr6.1billion (2.6billion). It became the world's third biggest pharmaceuticals company when it was created in the 1996 merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz.