Deutsche Bank, Europe’s biggest bank, has advised several thousand large institutional investors to sell their shares in leading biotechnology companies, including Monsanto and Novartis, because consumers are hesitant to buy genetically modified products. Since the bank circulated a report with the advice on May 21, stock in the named companies has fallen and the frenzy to take over biotech seed companies has halted. Meanwhile, the British government has suspended large-scale test planting of genetically modified rapeseed, fearing that a court may rule that the government illegally rushed through the approval process for the plots. The court is weighing a case brought by Friends of the Earth against the government.
