Berlin, Germany
February 23, 2009
USDA/FAS GAIN report GM 9007
http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200902/146327270.pdf
Report highlights:
German Minister for
Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection (BMELV), Ilse
Aigner has publically speculated about another cultivation
ban for MON810 corn varieties. She has indicated that the
expected monitoring report on the environmental impact of
MON810 will be weighed carefully. Aigner also favors the
establishment of state-wide biotech-free regions. NGO’s,
particularly in Minister Aigner’s home state of Bavaria, are
increasing pressure over biotechnology in run-up to the
European Parliamentary elections in June and German federal
elections in September.
In an interview with Berliner
Zeitung on February 18 and carried widely on radio and TV,
German Minister for Agriculture Food and Consumer Protection,
Ilse Aigner said that she is considering a cultivation ban for
MON810 corn varieties. The paper quoted Aigner as saying “Here
(in Germany) green gene technology does not provide recognizable
advantages for the people.” She also pointed out that consumers
reject genetically engineered plants and that farmers do not
want them. Aigner indicated that she intends to review the
marketing approval for MON810 corn in Germany. She said that if
she considers that the technology provider did not implement the
monitoring obligations as expected, she will implement another
cultivation ban. The interviewer asked the question whether she
has the political will to completely ban cultivation of MON810
corn. Aigner answered “Yes.”
Aigner also discussed the recent calls from Bavaria for the
implementation of biotech-free production regions. Aigner said
that she supports the right for separate regions within Germany
to declare themselves as biotech-free regions, which would be
consistent with EU law. However, she indicated that based on
current EU law, there is little scope for this option. Aigner
said that she had instructed her Ministry to identify a
mechanism to establish
biotech-free zones or to declare German states as biotech-free.
Aigner said “I completely support this demand,” referring to
recent calls in her home state of Bavaria for this action.
In discussing field trials, Aigner also demanded more
sensitivity to local concerns. For example, she said that she
had advised the Federal Seeds Register (FSR) not to apply for
biotech variety tests in regions where biotechnology is
specifically contentious.
Comment: Aigner gave this interview two days before the opening
of the trade show for organic foods (BioFach) in Nuremberg. Just
five days ago, a group of 34 organic and other anti-biotech
organizations sent an open letter to Aigner demanding that she
take clear position against biotech crop cultivation in Germany.
This group stated in a press release that they will use Aigner’s
response for communication with the public. Two weeks ago,
Aigner reportedly refused to accept 45,000 postcards from an
anti-biotech NGO during a visit to her parliamentary district.
The next several months will be very critical for Aigner’s
party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) in Bavaria. The CSU is
campaigning for the European parliament election in June, 2009.
Political polls report that it will be a very narrow race for
the CSU to be successful and send Bavarian delegates to the next
European Parliament. In order to do this, the CSU must get at
least 5 percent of all votes cast nationwide in Germany; because
of its regional representation, it is therefore searching for
every vote in Bavaria.
In the past several weeks, both the Bavarian Minister for the
Environment, Markus Soeder, and Gert Sonnleitner, in his
position as the Bavarian farmers’ association president, have
demanded that commercial cultivation of biotech crops should be
banned in Bavaria.
Interestingly, Sonnleitner did not express this demand for all
of Germany in his capacity as president of the national farmers’
association. Sonnleitner does not have complete support for this
position in the national farmers association. There are farmers
that are interested in the tools that current agricultural
biotech plant events offer. Across Germany, these farmers are
mainly located in eastern regions. While not currently large,
there is growing interested even in Northern Bavaria for access
to the technology. As of February 17, there
have been 3690 hectares of land registered for planting with
biotech corn in 2009.
Aigner’s interview is a clear signal to German politicians and
to the industry that she is not interested in biotech crop
cultivation. The issue is very contentious in the public so
leading politicians have not dared to counter NGO concerns and
campaigns with scientific knowledge. The interview also sheds
light on the position Germany is likely to take with regard to
the upcoming vote on approvals for other biotech corn events.
Also, in this environment there appears little chance that
Germany would change its position on the cultivation bans in
other EU countries. In the past, Germany supported the right of
EU member countries to individually decide about biotech crop
cultivation in their territory.
Source:
http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200902/146327270.pdf
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