What Aventis?
April 2000

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Contents
Why Aventis?
Farm-scale trials, role in GM, strategy for GM crops, greenwash, dealing with regulators
What Aventis?
Aventis merger, UK operations, corporate structure and commercial activities, Aventis CropScience key products, financial details countries of operations
More Aventis?
GMO crimes, other eco-crimes, activism against Aventis, attitude to activists
Whose Aventis?
Who else and Aventis?GM partnerships, Other partnerships, other contractors, lobbying, PR, lawyers,
Where Aventis?
GM-related work, Aventis -owned sites, farm trial sites
Who Aventis?
Senior staff working on GM, PR slimers, directors

Company profile
Aventis claims to be the world's top ranking firm in sales of both pharmaceuticals [36] and agrochemicals, [37] with combined annual sales of euro 18 billion and around 90,000 employees across the globe [38]. However, since there have been several recent mergers in the pharmaceutical sector, it is likely that the pharmaceutical division will soon rank as low as fifth [39]. In crop protection too it may soon have to play second fiddle to Syngenta, the recently announced merger of the agricultural divisions of AstraZeneca and Novartis [40]

The research and development budget for Aventis CropScience is a staggering US$408m - more than any other company producing GM crops [41].
Ultimate holding company: Aventis SA

Aventis SA Head office. Espace-Européen de l'Entrepise, 16 avenue de l'Europe, F-67300 Schiltigheim, Strasbourg. Tel: 0033 3 88 99 11 00

Aventis merger
Aventis was formed through the merger of Hoechst of Germany and Rhone-Poulenc of France. The merger was cleared by EU competition authorities on 11 August 1999, and gave Hoechst shareholders 53% and Rhone-Poulenc shareholders the remaining 47% [42]. The whole process was finally completed on 15 December 1999 and shares were traded for the first time on the New York, Paris and Frankfurt stock exchanges on 20 December [43].

The company is split into several divisions, including Aventis CropSciences, which produces its GM crops and agrochemicals. Before the birth of Aventis, both Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc had their own agrochemical and GM crop operations. Hoechst were majority owners of AgrEvo, and Rhone-Poulenc had a division called Rhone-Poulenc Agro. Aventis CropSciences is a marriage of these two companies, though it is AgrEvo which has brought most of the GM technology to the new company. Schering, which owned 40% of AgrEvo, has retained a 24% share of Aventis CropScience [44].

Up to 1400 jobs are expected to be lost in European agrochemicals as a result of the merger [45]. Stuart Ross, of the Manufacturing, Science & Finance Union, said: "We're disappointed because the companies haven't talked to the unions. There has been no consultation in a situation where hundreds of jobs are at risk. Staff have been kept in the dark." A statement from the merging companies admitted that 'synergies' would result in job reductions [46]. Similar sentiments in France led to the blockading of the entrance to Rhone-Poulenc's last ever shareholder meeting by union activists (see activism against Aventis below). Merchant Banks Rothschild and Lazards advised Rhone-Poulenc and Hoechst on the merger - this included advising on which bits of the companies to dispose of, and which to keep.[47]

NM Rothschild & Sons, New Court, St Swithin's Lane, London EC4. tel.0171 280 5000.

Lazard Brothers, 21 Moorfields, London EC2. tel. 0171 588 2721 http://www.lazard.com/london/

UK operations
All UK-based companies have to register at Companies House, a part of the government. Aventis has two key UK operating companies registered that are involved in its agriculture business.

Aventis CropScience UK Ltd. This is registered at the Hauxton site, though the main office appears to be Ongar - see 'Where Aventis?', below.

Aventis Agriculture Ltd. This is registered at the Ongar site - see 'Where Aventis?, below.

The relationship between the two is explained in ‘Corporate structure and commercial activites’ on the next page.
Corporate structure and commercial activities:
Aventis consists of two business areas: Aventis Pharma and Aventis Agriculture.

Aventis Pharma comprises the prescription drugs, vaccines, therapeutic proteins and diagnostics businesses. This is based in Frankfurt, and makes up 73% of Aventis' business[48].

Aventis Agriculture, with headquarters in Lyon, France, comprises the crop science and seeds, plant biotechnology, animal nutrition and animal health businesses.
[49]. It has 16,600 employees [44].

Aventis Agriculture is in turn divided into three areas:

• Aventis CropScience - crop protection and crop production for agriculture, i.e. agrochemicals such as herbicides and pesticides as well as both GM and non-GM seeds. Within Aventis CropScience is Aventis Environmental Science which provides fungicides, insecticides, herbicides and growth promoters for golf courses, local authorities, forestry and ornamental plants. Aventis CropScience accounts for almost 90% of Aventis Agriculture's sales [44].

• Aventis CropSciences Head office
Postal address: La Dargoir-Siège Social, Centre de Recherche, 14-20, Rue Pierre Baizet - B.P. 9163, 69263 Lyon Cedex 09, France Tel: (0033) 4 72 85 25 25 Fax: (0033) 4 72 85 43 21-

• Aventis Animal Nutrition - develops, manufactures and markets feed additives for animals feed, including vitamins, amino acids and enzymes.

• Merial (50/50 joint venture with Merck of the US) - develops, manufactures and markets veterinary medicines.
[50]

Aventis also owns Plant Genetic Systems NV. The company was acquired by AgrEvo on 16 August 1996 for £340 million. It was then the largest ever biotechnology takeover - but PGS' portfolio of patents was a valuable asset. In November the same year, PGS/AgrEvo was granted US patent rights to plants engineered for resistance to its glufosinate herbicide. [51]

Plant Genetic Systems NV, Ghent, Belgium Tel: (0032) 9 2358 440.

The Dutch-based Nunza BV is a subsidiary of Aventis CropScience which produces vegetables seeds. Nunza operates worldwide through the brands Nunhems in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Sunseeds in the Americas and Nunhems-Proagro in India. [52]. Its UK subsidiary, Nunhems Seeds, is currently located in a portacabin at the former AgrEvo site at East Winch, though they are due to move in May 2000, possibly to somewhere in the Kings Lynn area [53].

Nunhems Seeds, East Winch Hall, East Winch, Kings Lynn, Norfolk. PE32 1HN Tel: 01553 842 588

• PlantTec is a Berlin-based subsidiary, which messes about with the carbohydrate metabolism of plants using GM technology. PlantTec was set up in 1996 by members of the staff of the former Berlin "Institut für Genbiologische Forschung GmbH", with the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft and AgrEvo as shareholders.
[52].

PlantTec Biotechnologie GmbH. Forschung + Entwicklung, Hermannswerder 14, 14473 Potsdam. Germany

Managing Director: Dr. Jörg Riesmeier Chairman of the Shareholder Committee: Prof. Dr. Lothar Willmitzer
Telephone (0049) 331 27 567-0 Fax: (0049) 331 27 567-77 Email: planttec@planttec.de http://www.planttec.de/
Aventis CropScience key products
Liberty herbicide (glufosinate)

LibertyLink and SeedLink: LibertyLink™ is the brand name Aventis uses for seeds which are genetically modified to be tolerant to the Liberty herbicide. LibertyLink varieties of oilseed rape, maize, soya and sugar beet have been developed and LibertyLink rice and cotton are in the pipeline. SeedLink is a breeding system developed by Aventis subsidiary Plant Genetic Systems using genetic engineering to produce hybrid seeds. SeedLink canola hybrids are marketed in Canada under the tradename InVigor[54].

"Glufosinate is rapidly degraded in the soil and water so that leaching is not a problem," claimed AgrEvo in August 1999 [55]. However, the US Environment Protection Agency classifies glufosinate as persistent, mobile in soil and highly soluble in water. As a broad spectrum herbicide it is a threat to all plants, but it is also a danger to a number aquatic animals including some freshwater fish species.

Glufosinate is toxic to humans and ingestion of the herbicide can be fatal. It primarily targets the nervous system, and symptoms in laboratory animals have included trembling, irregular breathing and convulsions. There are also concerns that by-products formed through the interaction of glufosinate with resistant plants could also be dangerous to consumers eating foods produced from them. [56] The UK agriculture ministry MAFF has raised concerns about harmful levels of residues of glufosinate in crops that have been treated with it and in animals that have been fed with such crops.

Glufosinate is produced at Aventis' Frankfurt plant. In 1995 the plant expanded to double production in order to meet a projected increase in demand alongside the development of GM glufosinate-resistant crops. Aventis expects glufosinate to become its lynchpin product with annual sales of £420m by 2001-2 [57]. Trade names include Basta, a herbicide for which it has particularly high hopes [44], Rely, Finale and Challenge. In UK it is used mainly on oilseed rape and potatoes. In Canada, Liberty Link canola (oilseed rape) has been on sale since 1995 [57]. LibertyLink® corn is already being grown on a commercial scale in the United States, covering an area of 2 million acres (800,000 ha) in 1998 [58].

Herbicides
Isoxaflutole (Balance) Glufosinate (Basta) (Liberty) Fenoxaprop (Puma) HBN (Buctril)

Insecticides
Fipronil (Regent) Aldicarb (Temik)

Fungicides
Iprodione (Rovral)

Seeds and link products
Glufosinate (LibertyLink) [59]

Products for specific crops

Oilseed rape
Disease control: Derosal, Sportak, Sportak, Alpha
Insect control: Decis
Seed treatment: Foundation, Rovral
Weed control: Fusion, Galtak, Liberty [60]

Soya
Disease control: Condor, Derosal, Gudor, palisade
Insect control: Decis, Larvin, Thiodan (Phaser)
Nematode control: Temik
Seed treatment: Derosal, Semevin
Weed control: Cobra, Galtak, Podium [61]

Maize
Insect control: Decis, Starlink
Seed treatment: Alios, Cosmos, Prelude SP, Regent, Semevin
Weed control: Balance, Buctril, Liberty[62]
Financial details:
 Turnover (euro)
Aventis SA 18.4bn
Aventis Pharma 13.9bn
Aventis Agriculture 4.6bn
(CropScience) 4.1bn
[64]

NB: 1 euro = approx 60p.

Aventis spent $408m (approx euro 427m or £256m) on agricultural R&D in 1998 (10% of turnover) [65]. This presumably adds up the combined R&D budgets of AgrEvo and Rhone-Poulenc.

Aventis CropScience sales breakdown by product type
Type of product % of sales (2000 estimated)
Herbicides 40
Insecticides 27.5
Fungicides 17.5
Growth Regulators/others 15
(this includes GM crops)
[63]
Countries of operation
Aventis employs 95,000 people around the globe [40], 16,600 being employed in the Agriculture division [44]. Of this total 25,000 are employed in France, 17,000 in the USA, 13,000 in Germany and 40,000 are employed in the rest of the world [40].

Aventis is making some bold claims about its bid for global domination in the crop protection and GM crops business and it is evident that there are plans for massive expansion, particularly in the Southern hemisphere. What follows is a summary of Aventis' plans in what it appears the company considers to be key countries. Although this list is split into 'plans for GMO's' and 'other plans', this does not mean that Aventis does not intend to introduce or expand production of GM crops in the latter list or in other countries. This is merely a summary of what the company has announced that we have been able to get hold of.

For a full list of countries where Aventis CropScience operates see http://www2.aventis.com/cropsc/about/countries.htm

International plans for GM crops
Aventis expects to boost its overall sales across Latin America by more than 30 percent in 2000. According to regional director, Yves Ravinet, "Latin America accounts for 20 percent of Aventis' sales worldwide and it represented $600 million in sales for us last year… We intend to reach a total of $800 million in 2000." The company also has plans to begin commercial production of GM rice as early as 2000 in South America and the United States. [18]

In 1999, AgrEvo acquired Brazil's 'leading rice breeding programme' from Granja 4 Irmaos S.A., the country's largest rice seed producer.[66] Aventis aims to bring transgenic LibertyLink technology into rice - one of the world's most important crops. The company obtained permission from the Brazilian authorities in December 1998 to test LibertyLink rice in field trials[67].

In the Philippines Aventis is planning to increase market share in crop production this year (2000) to 25%. The local crop production industry is currently valued at P4.7 billion (approx £72.5m). Plans for this year include focus on the seedbusiness as well as introduction of genetically-mofidifed crops in the country, such as rice and corn. [68]

In Thailand the company aims for 10% growth in local sales this year to 4.3 billion baht (approx £70m). As a result of the merger, the company will close its nutrition and bio-chemical products plant in Navanakorn, Pathum Thani, and transfer the production lines to its crop science plant in Bang Poo [69].

In February 1999 Aventis expanded massively into India, acquiring the Proagro Group of seed companies (the second largest seed group in the country) which produces hybrid corn, rice, oilseed rape, cotton, sunflower, grain and fodder sorghum, millet and vegetables [70]. The group comprises Proagro seed company limited, Proagro-PGS India Limited, Hybrid Rice International (HRI), and Misr Hytech [71]. Proagro-PGS develops vegetable hybrids, including hybrids incorporating Aventis' controversial GM Bt resistance technology. The company is a joint venture founded in 1993 between Proagro Seed Company Ltd and Aventis subsidiary PGS. [52] Aventis is also now expanding aggressively elsewhere in Asia and the Middle East [70]. HRI is the market leader in India in hybrid rice and is active in other important South East Asian markets.

Aventis has equally ambitious plans for Eastern Europe. In Ukraine, for example, Aventis is involved in a project to 'modernise technology', for sugar beets and oil seed rape. It also plans to increase production of pesticides in the country to $350 million over the next three years. According to Ukraine Deputy General Director Konstantin Sarnatsky the company plans to introduce two new chemicals to the Ukranian market every year. [72]

Other international plans
In Brazil Aventis intends to become the absolute market leader in 2000 in insecticides, with a 16% market share. "We consider the Brazilian market for insecticides to be the most important of all, with enormous growth potential," said Cesar Rojas, general director of the company in the country. [73].

In 1999, whilst still AgrEvo, the company expanded its Brazilian interests, with the purchase of three seed companies. These were Sementes Ribeiral Ltda and Sementes Fartura Ltda, as well as the corn research company Mitla Pesquisa Agricola Ltda. All are now 100% owned by Aventis, and were purchased for 'an undisclosed amount'. Aventis is pushing into the hybrid corn seed market (of which these companies control 8% in Brazil) worldwide.

In Poland, the company hopes to have seven different companies operating in the not-too-distant future. Aventis CropScience has a 23 percent share in the Polish market, with sales at $50m (approx £31.5m) [74]

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