Berlin, Germany
September 11, 2007
USDA/FAS GAIN Report Number: GM7033
http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200707/146291854.pdf
Report highlights
The German genetech law is
expected to be only marginally amended despite an almost two
year intensive discussion process. The minimum distance for
biotech corn to neighboring conventional corn will be set at
150 meters and at 300 meters for organic corn. Rules for
'without-genetech' labeling are expected to be eased.
Coalitions Compromise on the
Draft the Genetech Law
On Friday July 20 the German
Coalition partners Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and Social
Democrats (SPD) agreed on a number of essential points about how
to proceed with the remodeling of the existing genetech law. The
coalition compromise actually represents pretty much a status
quo of the existing law with some marginal adjustments.
The result of the agreement is
that the biotech pessimists succeeded in a number of points:
- The German liability
regulation will not be changed.
- The rules for the field
register remain untouched.
- The distance requirement
for biotech fields to conventional crops will be set at 150
meters.
- The distance of biotech
fields to organic fields will be set at 300 meters.
- Farmers will have the
opportunity to conclude private agreements that the distance
can be cut shorter or totally eliminated. However, the
consequence for the agreeing neighboring farmer is that he
has to label his crop as biotech corn if biotech traces
below 0.9 percent will be detected because this is no longer
unintentional presence.
- The German Laender
(States) have the option to implement stricter distance
rules for biotech fields within or neighboring nature
reserve regions. This option also applies to fields
neighboring seed production fields.
Another important point is that
political pressure has built during recent months to make it
easier to label food with the term ‘without genetechnology’.
Minister Seehofer agreed to draft an amendment that would
broaden the option that German food processors can label
livestock products - stretching from milk, eggs, meat to
processed products – as ‘without genetechnology’ if the animals
were not fed with biotech feeds. The use of feed additives and
enzymes and medicine derived from biotechnology processes does
not prevent the ‘without genetechnology’ labeling. So far the
‘without genetechnology’ labeling is not possible if animals
have been treated with biotech medicine or fed with feed which
contained additives or enzymes which got in touch with biotech.
The result of the intended change
of the labeling rule might be that an increasing amount of food
products will be labeled ‘without genetechnology’ and demand for
biotech-free crops will increase. So far hardly any products
were labeled ‘without genetechnology’.
The new draft version of the
biotech law has been forwarded to the stakeholders for comment
by July 31. On August 8, the law will be sent to the Bundestag
and on August 10 it will be sent to the Bundesrat. On September
21 the Bundesrat will take action on the genetech law amendment.
Reactions to the Coalition
Compromise on the Genetech Law Proposal
The Social Democrats (SPD) praise
the coalition compromise as a victory of their interventions at
the Seehofer ministry. The SPD argues that the new draft
reflects the interest of the vast majority of German people
opposing biotech in food and feed production. The SPD claims
that the intend to alter the labeling rules for livestock
products resulting from animals, which were fed with biotech
feeds, are an important step towards more truthful
information of the consumers although the livestock can still be
fed with biotech additives, enzymes or treated with biotech
medicine. The use of additives, enzymes, medication or other
substances, which results from biotechnological processes, is
disregarded by the SPD.
The Green Party complains that the
option that neighboring farmers can lower the minimum distance
to neighboring fields resembles the invitation to unlimited
biotech crop production. Additionally the Greens demand that the
buffer distance should be 300 meters to all nonbiotech fields.
The German farmers association
claims that they cannot recommend growing of biotech crops in
Germany because of the unsatisfactory and unchanged liability
rules. However, a leading ag-policy speaker of the Christian
Democrats party claims that liability regulations are relatively
insignificant for the growing of corn under the condition of
minimum distances of 150 meters and more.
Minister Seehofer defends the
compromise as a balanced response to public concerns about
biotechnology. Seehofer repeatedly stated that he supports
research on biotech crops but that there is no need for the
growing of biotech crops for food and feed purposes. The
breakthrough for biotech crops will possibly come with the next
generation of biotech traits concentrating on energy crops. For
this purposes Germany announced the founding of a national
research center for biomass – Deutsches
Biomasse-Forschungfszentrum (DBFZ). About 80 researchers will
concentrate on the replacement of mineral oil through biomass.
Asked why Seehofer does not support biotech in the way as it was
announced by Chancellor Merkel, Seehofer responded: “We do not
make politics on a different planet; we are concerned about the
opinion of our farmers, churches and youth groups.” (Quote in
the Frankfurter Rundschau). |
