Britain was the one country where the big corporations manufacturing GM seeds, Monsanto, Novartis, etc., had hoped for a favourable response to give them a lead into the rest of Europe. Establishment figures like Prince Charles, with backing from much of the media, have denounced genetically engineered products. The Labour government has become increasingly embarrassed, having worked closely with the biotech companies to win acceptance for GM, after the companies spent millions of pounds in advertising and lobbying politicians. Most of the big supermarkets now either refuse to stock food containing GM products imported from the United States or at least insist that they are clearly labelled. Britain is not the only country targeted by the biotech corporations for GM crops.
Brazil is the world's second largest exporter of soya.
Although the Brazilian agriculture ministry has supported Monsanto the government is divided over the issue with the environment ministry opposing it. In India, where 700 million people are directly dependent on farming, biotech companies are desperate to get GM crops accepted. Pressure from environmentalists has led the Supreme Court to ban test plantings for the time being pending a judicial review. In Karnataka state protesting farmers cut down and burnt the cotton on two of Monsanto's test sites. The biggest fear in India is over the introduction of so-called Terminator technology.