Biotech's 10 Biggest PR Disasters of 2012

The 10 biggest GMO PR disasters of 2012

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2012 was the year the lights came up on the biotech industry. Its claims, its tactics and its products all came under scrutiny and some of its biggest PR fairytales bit the dust. Here are some prime examples.

1. Fleeing Europe: The biotech bubble needs to appear to be constantly expanding but in early 2012 came the news that the GM and chemicals giant BASF was pulling its GM division out of Europe because it was facing opposition "from the majority of consumers, farmers and politicians." BASF also announced it was stopping the commercialization of its GM Amflora potato, one of only two GM crops authorized for cultivation in the European Union. The crop had been a commercial flop. The industry's only other crop grown in Europe, Monsanto's Mon810 GM maize, continued to face bans in a number of countries including France and Germany. Even GM crop trials are in decline and with BASF quitting Europe they're expected to decline still further...