On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 09:07:11 +0200, Tom Bickle
wrote:

I generally just lurk here, but cannot resist. Torsten knows, because I
sent him email, that Novartis can have nothing to do with this. The
reason is that Novartis is not, and never has been, in the agro
business. When Novartis was formed by the fusion of Sandoz and
Ciba-Geigy they spun off their agro divisions as a new firm, Syngenta.

Novartis was formed in 1996, by fusion of Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy, as
you say. Syngenta was spun off 4 years later, in 2000, combining the
agchem, GM crops research and seed divisions of Novartis with the
agchem and GM crops research divisions of AstraZeneca.

What I have been quoting is from Novartis Australasia's response to
an Australian parliamentary commmittee. The response is dated June
1999 -- that is, while Novartis still had agchem, GM crops research
and seed divisions.

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committe...nq/sub26-e.pdf