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

The German government has imposed stricter regulations on the food company
Monsanto regarding the sale of genetically modified corn seeds. The new
rules are tantamount to an outright ban.
Genetically modified (GM) crops have long been controversial in Germany,
where organic agriculture is booming. Now the cultivation of GM corn has
been effectively banned by the government, according to media reports.

In its Wednesday edition, the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel reports that it
has obtained a letter sent from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to the
agricultural company Monsanto, which sells the GM corn MON 810 - which has
been legal in Germany up until now - as seed. In the letter, the ministry
writes that GM corn from the MON 810 product line can only be delivered to
third parties if the firm also provides an accompanying monitoring plan
which researches the effects on the environment. The German news agency DPA
also reported Wednesday they had obtained a copy of the same letter.

"This amounts to a de facto ban on the cultivation of genetically modified
corn," said Peter Rudolph, who is responsible for genetic technology in the
Brandenburg state ministry of agriculture, in remarks to Der Tagesspiegel
Tuesday. He said the letter basically means Monsanto will no longer be
allowed to sell MON 810, as the company has not presented any monitoring
plan up until now. Brandenburg is the German state with the largest quantity
of GM corn under cultivation.

In the letter, the federal ministry justifies its decision by writing that
new information "gives reasons to suppose that the cultivation of MON 810
poses a danger to the environment."

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture told the newspaper that the
letter should not be interpreted as a ban, but rather as a tightening of the
regulations concerning the cultivation of the GM corn.

The new ruling could mean that crops already planted may not be allowed to
be harvested. Brandenburg farmer Jörg Piprek told Der Tagesspiegel the new
ruling was absurd: "We've already planted the corn. They can't tell us after
the fact that it was illegal."

The cultivation of genetically modified crops has been controversial all
over Europe, with anti-GM activists going as far as ripping up crops. The
German Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer has up until now justified the
cultivation of GM crops in Germany by arguing they are allowed under
European Union regulations.

[www.spiegel.de]