Scotland currently has devolved powers to prevent GM research trials and to specify the distances between GM and non-GM crops. In the last few months Defra has given permission for two research trials for GM potatoes in England. A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We are very interested in the European Commission’s ideas for permitting local discretion over whether cultivation is permitted. We will examine the detail of the proposals to determine how this might work in practice. We remain fundamentally opposed to the cultivation of GM crops without firm scientific evidence that it poses no threat to the wider environment.”

Even if the power to prevent commercial growing is retained by Scotland, Duncan McLaren – chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland – states that the new rules are open to corporate legal challenge.

How long will this campaign – active since 1997 – continue?

Colin Tudge described New Labour’s agricultural strategy, “if such it can be called”, as “an open invitation to Monsanto, Cargill, and Tesco, to fill their boots.” Bell Pottinger, the lobbying firm acting for Monsanto, was paying up to £10,000 a year to MP Peter Luff, the Tory chairman of the Agriculture Select Committee which policed Government food policy. Monsanto met government minister Jack Cunningham when he was chair of the cabinet committee on GM. His special adviser, Cathy McGlynn, went on to join Bell Pottinger.

David Hill, Tony Blair’s chief media spokesperson, was a senior executive at Bell-Pottinger and managing director of its subsidiary Good Relations Ltd, where he was public relations advisor to Monsanto. Parliamentary written answers show Monsanto had far more success at winning audiences with government ministers after Hill’s arrival. During 1997-1999 GM food firms met government officials or ministers 81 times and Monsanto reps visited into the agriculture and environment departments 22 times. (They couldn’t be closer to Blair, Daily Mail, February 13, 1999)

The same tactics are used world-wide: corporate vested interest embedded in government advisory committees influences the decision-making process

In India the composition of the Expert Committee (called EC-II) which gave environmental clearance to the genetically modified Bt aubergine was examined and members were shown to have close links with the GM industry. A year later [2009] it was reported that the norms and bylaws of the EC-II had been lowered to suit the interests of the private seed companies. All experiments were conducted by private companies, and the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee accepted data provided by the private seed company which was compelled by a Supreme Court directive to release its research data. The author asked: “How can people who develop GM crops also sit on the approval process?”

In the United States corporate influence over important politicians is on record: a Supreme Court Judge was Monsanto’s lawyer, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture was a director of Monsanto’s Calgene Corporation, the Secretary of Defense was a director of Monsanto’s Searle pharmaceuticals, the U.S. Secretary of Health received $50,000 in donations from Monsanto and Monsanto gave a large donation were given to the Chairman of the House Agricultural Committee. The man in charge of overseeing the GMO evaluations at the US Food and Drugs Agency [FDA], Michael Taylor, was a lawyer who had previously represented US biotechnology giant Monsanto. After leaving the FDA he went back to his private practice, eventually becoming Monsanto’s vice president. In 2009 Michael Taylor returned through the revolving door to become the senior advisor to the commissioner of the FDA.

Short-lived lifting of spirits when news of Monsanto’s dramatically falling profits on Round-Up sales was arrested by the explanation that this was due to China manufacturing a cheaper substitute – as well as problems with weed resistance.

Will the drive to extend production of GM crops in Europe intensify to recover ground after Monsanto’s quarterly profits fell by 45%?