Germany Bans GM Corn

Germany Bans GM Corn

Germany has thrown its weight behind a growing European mutiny over GM crops by banning the planting of a widely grown pest-resistant corn variety.

Agriculture minister Ilse Aigner said there was enough evidence to support arguments that MON 810, which is the only GM crop widely grown in Europe, posed a danger.

"I have come to the conclusion that genetically modified corn from the MON 810 strain constitutes a danger to the environment," Aigner said.

Germany's move, which has immediate effect, goes against the European Commission's decision to support the lifting of bans on planting MON 810 which have been imposed by governments in France, Austria, Hungary, Greece and Luxembourg.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/14/germany-gm-crops
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSLE16356920090414

EXTRACTS FROM THE GERMAN PRESS:

The ban has been widely welcomed by most media commentators in Germany - see THE WORLD FROM BERLIN -- Spiegel Online
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,619166,00.html

"The damage that genetically modified crops can cause to the animal and plant worlds - from mutation to reduced biodiversity - is not foreseeable. If nature were a business like Monsanto, with press spokespeople and bags of money for good lawyers, then it would have won the genetic modification case long ago." - Berliner Zeitung

"A minister has no choice; one has to make a decision that is both politically acceptable and realistic... The fact that only water fleas and butterflies have so far been harmed does not refute warnings of unforeseeable consequences. Who knows how many humans will soon have to endure the same fate as those small creatures?" -- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

"The first thoroughly Bavarian political reason [for the decision to ban GM]: The farmers in Bavaria oppose genetically modified corn, and so does the CSU… There is a deep mistrust of genetic modification. Germans are prepared to accept every artificial flavor, every preservative or any other dubious ingredient in food - but when it's a question of genetic modification, they want nothing to do with it." - Financial Times Deutschland

"As long as there are any doubts, Germany should follow the example of other EU countries and prevent the cultivation of GM corn - or at least impose a moratorium." - Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Munich)
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4179022,00.html

AND THE VIEW OF THE INDUSTRY:
Lobbyists for the biotechnology industry in Germany described the decision as a setback for science and for the economy. They warned that it would prompt biotechnology companies to relocate to other parts of the world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/14/germany-gm-crops

ENDS

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