Research into the commercial use of genetically-modified potato
starch has been agreed in Germany by Aventis CropScience in a
joint venture with Dutch cooperative AVEBE, a spokesman said on
Thursday. Aventis CropScience is a unit of German-French
pharmaceuticals group Aventis . The two have set up a joint
venture called Solavista GmbH based in Potsdam in east Germany,
where Aventis CropScience has carried out GM and other research
into potatoes, Aventis CropScience spokesman Gerhard Waitz said
on Thursday. "We have carried out a lot of fundamental research
at Potsdam and we have made some interesting products," Waitz
said. "The aim now is further develop these things to find
commercial uses in industry and later also uses in food in
cooperation with our partner, which has great experience in the
potato starch sector." It is hoped that jointly-developed
products will be put on the market by the end of this decade, he
added. Potato starch is used in industries including paper
production, textiles and glues, he