Britain's Pesticide Safety Directorate (PSD) are to release data on
 Glufosinate ammonium.

 Biotech firm takes UK govt to court on data release

 UK: May 16, 2002

 LONDON - Biotech firm Aventis CropScience, in a joint action with an
 industry group, said it will take Britain's pesticide regulatory body
 to court yesterday over the agency's decision to release data on one of
 its products.

 Britain's Pesticide Safety Directorate (PSD) said it would release the
 commercially sensitive data used during the approval process for the
 herbicide glufosinate-ammonium, after a request from environmental
 pressure group Friends of the Earth.

 The data was supplied to the government by Aventis to back an
 application for the chemical to be sprayed on winter oilseed rape being

 grown as part of government field trials of gene-spliced crops.

 The green group said the weed killer is known to have toxic effects on
 animals and micro-organisms and could find its way into surface or
 ground water.

 But Aventis said releasing the data could damage the crop protection
 industry.

 "This information is commercially sensitive and confidential. The use
 of this data by generic companies would cause significant damage to the entire
 crop protection industry," Aventis said in statement.

 "It takes many years and great expense (typically between 8-10 years
 and 25-80 million pounds) to produce the necessary data to obtain approval
 for a crop production product," it added.

 The High Court in London will hear arguments from Aventis and the Crop
 Protection Association in a hearing set to last three days, before
 ruling on what data can be released.

 Bayer AG hopes to buy Aventis CropScience from French life sciences
 giant Aventis SA and Schering AG .

  REUTERS NEWS SERVICE