washington

The US life sciences company Monsanto is considering delaying the introduction of its controversial germination control technology — tagged by critics as ‘terminator’ technology — in which crops are genetically modified to destroy their own seeds.

A decision is expected after a meeting today (10 December) between key Monsanto executives and Robert Shapiro, the chairman and chief executive.

The proposed technology has caused anger among farmers in developing countries, who would not be able to save new seeds for replanting if they chose to grow germination control crops. It was developed jointly by the US cotton seed producer Delta and Pine Land Co. — which was taken over recently by Monsanto — and the US Department of Agriculture.

One of the reasons for developing germination control was to protect the intellectual property rights of those developing the seed. A Monsanto working group has been considering how best to respond to the controversy, which has virtually blocked any short-term prospect of improving the company's public image — and that of genetically modified food in general — in developed and developing countries (see Nature 396, 397; 1998).

Some in the company argue that Monsanto should open a dialogue with its critics, and organize independent research into the implications of germination control technology for all the stakeholders — including the company. The company had previously been asked by signatories to the United Nations Biodiversity Convention to help with their own review of germination control. This exercise, however, has not yet begun.

But any moratorium on introducing germination control would cause internal problems for Monsanto, where such a move is the focus of a vigorous debate. Some staff believe that, far from improving the company's public image, a moratorium might have more damaging consequences in the long term.

They argue that it could be seen as a victory for Monsanto's critics against not just germination control, but the whole of agricultural biotechnology. Such critics include the Rural Advancement Foundation International, based in Canada, and the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy in India.

These are campaigning for a worldwide ban. They achieved some success in October when germination control seeds were banned by the World Bank's agricultural research agency, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.