WHY HAVE THE FOOD GIANTS KEPT SO QUIET

Yesterday Monsanto, the giant American biotech company, entered the debate on genetically modified foods in the Evening Standard.

When asked, it also said it would be prepared to take part in a public debate.

About time, says JOHN HUMPHRYS SHERLOCK Holmes fans may remember the case of the dog that did not bark. It was, as usual, a brilliant piece of detection by the great sleuth. Dr Watson pointed out in his customary plodding manner that the problem with solving the crime was that no alarm had been raised because the dog had not barked. "Precisely!" said Holmes, and went on to solve the crime. It had been an inside job and the silent dog gave him the vital piece of information. Or something like that. I have difficulty solving the crimes even after the villain has been apprehended. So now let me turn to the Case of the Mutant Foodstuffs. Many entirely sensible people believe that the genetic manipulation of plants is the crime of the century because it affects every man, woman and child on the planet. Others, also including many entirely sensible people, say that is hysterical nonsense. Either way, in the past few weeks it has become a very big news story. We have heard scientists, food retailers, politicians, journalists, Uncle Tom Cobley and all arguing both sides. But there is one dog that has not barked. And that is the dog that stands to gain the biggest, fattest, juiciest bone imaginable. I refer, my dear Watson, to the multinational agrochemical and biotech companies. The daddy of them all is Monsanto. It has been so reluctant to engage in debate that you might assume all its bosses had been implanted with the genes of a clam. Now, this is curious very curious indeed. You may recall the massive advertising campaign upon which Monsanto spent a GBP 1 million last summer. For week after week every broadsheet newspaper carried full-page spreads about The Great GM Debate. They informed us that pretty soon, unless the world went down this exciting road, half of us would be starving. BUT, heaven forfend that you should think Monsanto was trying to sell us this wonderful technology. No, the whole purpose of this campaign was to get a debate going, to argue the pros and cons. It even provided us with details of how to contact opponents such as Iceland Foods, which won't touch the stuff. Excellent, you may say, that it should use a tiny part of its vast profits in the interests of real democratic debate. And it worked. The argument was joined. When, towards the end of last year, the Today programme wanted a spokesman from Monsanto it was happy to oblige and a senior figure was put forward. He and I had a robust exchange. A very robust exchange. Since then our every request has been turned down. Now, as I write this, we are in negotiation for a return match, on the specific issue of its appearance in court for breaking the rules imposed on experimental field trials. All other requests were turned down. Was it something I said? Was I too rough? Well no, it can't have been because my more gentle colleagues have met with the same reply. Sheila Dillon, from the Food Programme on Radio 4, had been trying for weeks to get someone from the biotech companies, or even their trade association, to discuss the issue. No luck. So she ambushed Monsanto at the launch of the Citizens' Forum at Westminster last week. When the PR minder was out of the room she stuck a microphone under the nose of the boss and snatched a few minutes. Monsanto was not pleased. David Hill - until recently chief spokesman for the Labour Party and now in PR - was on the phone as she prepared to put the programme on air. What was she up to? Well I can tell you, Mr Hill. She was doing her job. Maybe the microphone scared them off? Again, no. The Guardian tried to find a spokesman to debate with me - no more than an exchange of letters, no interruptions allowed - and failed. There could be any number of reasons for this sudden shyness. Perhaps Monsanto simply does not employ the kind of articulate people who are capable of defending its corner? Actually, this mighty corporation can afford to employ the very best, including those who have held high office in government, especially the government of the United States. PERHAPS it regrets launching that "let's talk" campaign? Well, that's almost certainly true. Greenpeace, sworn enemies of genetic manipulation, have a copy of an internal Monsanto memo which acknowledges that it has made an almighty mess of it all. "At each point in this project, we keep thinking that we have reached the low point and that public thinking will stabilise, but we apparently have not reached that point." But I suspect this is the real reason: as the memo shows, the company realises - too late - that the more people hear about this wretched business, the more they want to hear. And the more they hear the less they like it. We have an absolute right to be consulted when big business proposes doing potentially dangerous things to our food in pursuit of corporate profit. Do you remember being consulted about GM before they started messing about with our food? No, neither do I. It may be that, in years to come, there will be enough evidence to prove it is not harmful. Maybe the mutant genes which have been shown to be capable of escaping from experimental crops and polluting their neighbours will not produce super-weeds of terrifying resistance. Perhaps corporations like Monsanto are genuinely acting in the interests of us all and not only in the interests of even bigger profits from vastly increased chemical sales and, ultimately, control of the very seeds from which our children and grandchildren must grow their food. But, in each case, we do not really know. There are so many questions. A spokesman for Monsanto was asked by this newspaper yesterday if the firm would be prepared to take part in a live television debate with the opposition. He said it would. I say: the sooner, the better. * John Humphrys's book, Devil's Advocate, will be published in September.

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