Between vaccine and gene food

What do mRNA vaccines and genetically modified foods have in common? Both are based on similar technology. But while many people can’t wait to be vaccinated, they shy away from “GM food”.

From Michael Heussen, WDR The apparent contradiction between accepted genetic engineering in the medical field and the controversial so-called green genetic engineering in agriculture was the topic of the run-up to the Bayer Group’s Annual General Meeting today. The discussion was held by Klaus Müller, Member of the Board of Directors of the consumer association, and Matthias Berninger, chief lobbyist at Bayer. Both sat together as young MPs for the Greens in the Bundestag in the 1990s before they parted ways. Now they were invited to the virtual Bayer podium together.

Waiting for the CureVac vaccine

Bayer has entered into a cooperation with the Tübingen vaccine developer CureVac. The vaccine is to be brought onto the market at the end of the year. The goal is to produce 160 million vaccine doses in the coming year, said Berninger, including at the Bayer plant in Wuppertal. This is new territory for the pharmaceutical giant, which has not yet produced any human vaccines. 40,000 test subjects have been recruited for clinical phase III, explained Florian von der Mülbe, CureVac’s Chief Production Officer: “We are about to complete the study and assume that we will be able to apply for approval in the second quarter.” The study is running in ten countries in Europe, Central and South America; half of the subjects received the vaccine, the other half a placebo. So far there have been no significant adverse reactions, according to the head of the study, Peter Kremsner from the Tübingen Tropical Institute. To answer the question why you are so late compared to other vaccine manufacturers, Berninger reached deep into the phrase box: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best is today.” Von der Mülbe added that you have to be prepared for future pandemics, and that is what his company is doing: They have developed a technology that, together with the production capacities provided by Bayer, can react quickly to mutations and disease outbreaks.

Many people come across glyphosate and green genetic engineering

Bayer not only stands for the pharmaceutical sector, but has also been criticized – since the purchase of the American Monsanto group, producer of the controversial weed killer glyphosate and genetically modified seeds. Bayer spokesman Christian Maertin defends himself by asking the head of the consumer advice center why genetic engineering in the medical field is widely accepted by the population, but why green genetic engineering, which is used in agriculture, is met with so much suspicion. “As a consumer center, we have the privilege not to be for or against, but to demand responsible regulation,” replied consumer advocate Müller. It is about risk assessment, but also about retrievability. Adjacent fields should not be impaired, you have to respect the fact that many would like to live without genetic engineering: “I don’t think Bayer can see that any differently,” said Müller. Not every end justifies the means: “That is why strict approval procedures and transparency are important. I would like Bayer to commit to the precautionary principle” – that is, pollution and damage to the environment and health are avoided or reduced in advance. Müller also pointed out the mortgage, which Bayer took over with the purchase of Monsanto : Compensation payments that – in addition to the purchase price of 60 billion euros – will amount to at least a further twelve billion euros and that will damage the company’s reputation. In response to the somewhat helpless objection of the Bayer spokesman that it has been proven that green genetic engineering does no harm and that small companies are hindered by regulation, Müller drew attention to the legal disputes in the USA: Only large companies are able to do this To conduct litigation and pay such sums of money. “Not every little scrap should be able to experiment with the most important thing that we as humanity have” – ​​with food.

Sorry to the shareholders

The dramatic impact that underestimating these questions has on Bayer became clear at the subsequent Annual General Meeting. CEO Werner Baumann apologized to the shareholders for the bad stock market price: “We bear the responsibility – without ifs or buts. That is why it is important for me to emphasize right from the start: We want to regain your trust.” The vaccine against Covid-19 is a perfect example of how to move forward with new technologies and global collaboration on the big issues of the time. However, it is currently not foreseeable that the cooperation with CureVac will boost the company’s figures in the current financial year. According to several analysts, Bayer remains a candidate for a hostile takeover because of its low market value. The group is bottom of the DAX and has made a loss of more than ten billion euros. And in the context of the Annual General Meeting, the question is also raised as to whether Baumann will fulfill his contract, which runs until 2024 – or should resign early.