www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

In a sharp departure from existing policy, Germany's new agriculture
minister is promoting genetically modified technology instead of organic
farming. Now, the first three types of GM corn have received approval,
December 2005.

Monsanto and Pioneer Hi-Bred, which produce the three types of newly
approved MON 810 seed for general use and sale by German farmers, hailed the
decision as a break from the ideological agriculture policy propagated by
former agriculture minister and Green party member Renate Künast.

"The seeds have been stuck in the system for a while," said Heinz Degenhardt
of Pioneer Hi-Bred. "The regular approval process could have actually been
finished a long time ago, if it was not slowed down for political reasons."

Other GM crop changes also expected

Künast's department blocked approval for the seeds -- which produce bacteria
to kill corn pests found in parts of Germany while remaining safe for
humans -- on several occasions and encouraged organic farming methods
instead.

While new Agriculture and Consumer Minister Horst Seehofer told the Berliner
Zeitung, "we want to promote modified foods," a ministry spokeswoman would
only confirm that the policies were being examined.

However, many in the GM industry expect a number of changes to be made under
Germany's new grand coalition government, with the conservative Christian
Social Union's Seehofer at the head of the Agriculture Ministry.

"We are naturally expecting other political changes," Monsanto's Andreas
Thierfelder said. "We are hoping the new government does what it said it
would do and change the genetic engineering law."

GM crop producers said they hope changes to the law will give GM products
the same status as non-modified products. Current practice "discriminates
against those who use genetic technology" and keeps them from using new
techniques to increase their harvests by calling for an increase in organic
farming, according to Thierfelder.

A question of coexistence

"The conventional and genetically modified crop import market already shows
that coexistence is possible in Germany," he added. "The cultivation of
genetically modified crops puts greater demands on coexistence since it
deals with relatively smaller particles, but coexistence is possible on
farms."

But GM opponents don't agree.

Peter Röhrig of the Ecological Food Industry Federation, on the other hand,
said there are a number of factors that prevent coexistence from being a
practical solution, and that it is consumers opposed to GM products who pay
the price.

"Right now the people who do not want to eat genetically modified food end
up paying for the existence of genetically modified food by covering all the
separation costs," he said.


GM dangers incalculable

Touted by government and industry officials as an innovative industry for
German farmers, GM food opponents also argue the dangers of GM crops have
not been subject to enough scrutiny before being put on the open market.

"There are short term studies done on mice and rabbits, but no long term
studies with humans," Röhrig said, pointing out a recent case in Australia
where two individually safe pea genes were mixed and became toxic. "There is
still very much we do not know, and no one is looking for answers in a way
would guarantee people's health over the long term."

Admitting that there is always a chance potential threat, seed producers
insist that their products are as safe as others available on the market.

"There is no technology that is completely risk free," Thierfelder said.
"But we think, and the approval authorities are also of the opinion, that
the risk is justifiable."

More GM crops to come

While both sides quote from studies about the danger or safety of GM crops,
Pioneer Hi-Bred's Degenhardt said he expects more of them to be officially
approved for use in Germany.

"The German Federal Office of Plant Varieties approves between 15 and 20
types of corn each year for cultivation in Germany," Pioneer's Degenhardt
said. "In the future there will also be approvals for genetically modified
types, and that will become normal."

[www.dw-world.de]

------------------------------------------
Posted to Phorum via PhorumMail