Austria rebuffs olive branch

OXFORD - Austria's government has rejected an olive branch from a consortium of seed companies and the food industry. Officials at the Ministries of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs have turned down an opportunity to conduct small test plantings of a modified maize in collaboration with Forum Biotechnology (Vienna).

Although the maize has European Union approval, the Forum has been trying to make its introduction palatable Austria's hostile biotech environment. Thus the Forum, representing AgrEvo (Berlin, Germany), Monsanto Co. (St. Louis, Mo.), Novartis International AG (Basel, Switzerland), Pioneer Hi-Bred International (Des Moines, Iowa) and the Austrian Food Industry Association, was disappointed by the government turn down...