§ Mr. Alan SimpsonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the meetings his Department has held with(a) Monsanto, (b) AgrEvo, (c) Novartis, (d) Zeneca and (e) other representatives of the biotechnology industry relating to biotechnology. [46211]
§ Mr. RookerNeither my colleagues nor I have held any meeting with companies from the biotechnology industry since 1 May 1997. In addition to the meetings detailed in my reply to the hon. Member for Lewes (Mr. Baker) on 31 March 1998,Official Report, columns 505–08, officials have met representatives of biotechnology companies on the occasions listed.
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Date Company 1997 21 May Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. USA 28 May Novartis 4 June CPB Twyford 30 June Sharpes/KWS 11 July Plant Breeding Institute 18 July AgrEvo 8 October Nickerson BIOCEM 21 October Plant Breeding Institute, Zeneca, Nickerson BIOCEM and Advanced Technologies (Cambridge) Ltd. 31 October Monsanto 1998 5 January Plant Genitic Systems 14 January AgrEvo, Cynamid, Monsanto and Novartis 15 January CPB Twyford 11 February Advanta 16 February Zeneca 11 March AgrEvo, Cynamid, Monsanto and Novartis 24 March Monsanto 6 May Zeneca 15 May Monsanto, AgrEvo and other biotechnology companies 20 May Plant Genetic Systems 22 May Monsanto, AgrEvo and other biotechnology companies 9 June AgrEvo, Cynamid and Monsanto 17 June Monsanto, AgrEvo and other biotechnology companies In addition, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate meets regularly with representatives of pharmaceutical companies as part of its responsibilities for the authorisation of veterinary medicines in the UK.