BioWorld International Correspondent

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Two studies released from the European Union last week concluded that legal uncertainty, lack of information and public skepticism about biotechnology are driving biotechnology firms out of Europe.

While most Europeans are in favor of medical applications of biotechnology, they are skeptical about agricultural and food-related biotech. That, combined with the regulatory chaos surrounding biotechnology in Europe and the doubts it throws on future commercial markets, is leading to a decrease in biotech research in Europe, said the study from the EU's Eurobarometer survey organization.

The impact is particularly strong in the field of agricultural biotechnology, according to a companion study from the EU's joint research center. Significant delays to new GM varieties and applications have discouraged companies. Smaller firms have dropped out of EU programs in plant biotechnology research, and large biotech companies have relocated research, field trials and commercialization of new genetically modified organisms (GMOs) outside the EU. The number of GMO field trial applications in the EU has dropped by 76 percent since 1998. And GMO research "has also been seriously undermined," according to the EU; over the last four years, research and development projects on GMOs have been canceled by more than a third of the researchers across the sector. In the private sector this figure is 61 percent.

The studies give new insight into European attitudes and expectations about biotechnology among the general public and the industry. They reveal that 44 percent of EU citizens believe that biotechnology will improve their quality of life, but there is a lack of support for agricultural and food applications, contrasting with a strong backing for medical uses.

"This is seriously slowing down biotech R&D in the EU, particularly in the private sector, and may put at risk Europe's competitiveness in a promising sector of new technologies," said the EU in a statement released at the same time as the studies. European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin said: "We must continue to champion a rational and informed debate on biotechnology so that Europeans are able to make informed decisions. Without sound scientific evidence, the debate will always be distorted. There is a perceived lack of scientific and other information, and the increasingly skeptical climate is scaring European biotech companies and research centers away."

Busquin raised the specter of the EU becoming dependent on technologies developed elsewhere if the trend is not reversed now.

"This will quite possibly lead to only the importing and processing of GM materials in the EU," he said. "We will be unable to reap the benefits of the life science revolution." He also dismissed citizens' fears as unjustified, and said, "Now that strict EU legislation in this field is finally in place, there is no ground for unjustified fears and prejudice."

Genetic testing for inherited diseases and cloning human cells and tissues are supported in all member states. The use of transgenic animals to produce organs to be transplanted in human beings through xenotransplantation, however, is perceived as only "moderately useful and moderately risky." Opposition to GM crops is strongest in France, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Austria and Luxembourg. Moreover, most Europeans do not support GM foods, considering them of little value and dangerous for society. Overall support for GM foods is seen in only four countries - Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Finland.

But the EU has derived some comfort from the studies. Despite the generally cautious view of biotechnology, the EU said the results of the studies are still more encouraging than in the recent past in all the EU member states except Germany and the Netherlands.

"After a decade of continuously declining optimism in biotechnology, the trend has reversed in this latest survey," the EU said. "In the period of 1999 to 2002, optimism has increased to the level seen in the early 1990s."

And the EU expects attitudes - in industry and among the public - will continue to improve. "In the next decade, the range and quality of genetic modifications in crops and the numbers of new products likely to be seeking regulatory approval will be greater than those already considered," it said. EU regulations are being updated, which should increase the rate of GMO application submissions.

Meanwhile, EU ministers are due to debate some of the contentious areas of EU biotechnology legislation at the agriculture council meeting this week. They will be holding a public debate on the draft regulations now under study on genetically modified food and animal feed and on traceability and labeling of GMOs and human or animal food derived from GMOs.