Germany At Odds Over GM Crop Ruling

20 Mar 2015 --- The vote by the European government in January that allows each European member state to decide whether or not it will allow the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops, has led to an internal dispute in Germany, where the country is split over whether to allow GM crops.

The majority of people in Germany are against the cultivation of GM crops and don’t want them in their food supply chain. This is a view that may Europeans, especially those in France, agree with. The UK government is more open to the idea of GM crops.

The cultivation of GM crops in the European Union has been controversial for more than 15 years. Currently, nine EU countries have completely banned the cultivation of the MON810 maize – the only GM food crop authorised in Europe. These bans have been challenged by the European Commission, as well as the biotech industry, resulting in many national environment ministers supporting proposals to strengthen their legal rights to ban GM crops.

Currently, there is just one crop, an insect-resistant maize by Monsanto, that is approved for use in the EU, and five member states, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia successfully grow it on home soil. There are seven further GM crops approved for use but not currently cultivated. The new ruling gives member states the authority to grow these, as well as others, not yet approved, as early as 2016.

As well as protection from insects, GM crops can increase the nutritional value of foodstuffs (nutritional enhancement), help them to withstand extremes in weather, provide drought and salt tolerant crops, increase shelf life of foods, adopt medicinal benefits and protect against disease.

Now German ministers are at odds with each other as they get to the detail of a legislative framework.

Reports from Europe suggest that the German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt is pushing for the creation of a legislative framework that would cover cultivation bans on genetically modified plants, but leave them up to individual regions. However, Germany’s Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks, is insisting on a national GMO ban and has rejected a draft bill from Christian Schmidt for regional cultivation bans on genetically modified plants.

The Social Democrat is calling for a national ban on the cultivation of genetically modified crops. This is important, she said, to achieve legal certainty. “If we have a fragmented cultivation ban, we would have an incredibly high amount of legal disputes,” Hendricks pointed out.

While the EU has decided on general approval of genetically modified plants, it allows for individual member states to issue their own national bans. In this way, member states have the opportunity, through the Opt-out-Directive, to issue national cultivation bans or restrictions on genetically modified plants.

“The opt-out arrangement was always my goal,” Schmidt said. “Now it is time to quickly approve a national bill, making it possible, with legal certainty, to issue cultivation bans on genetically modified plants in our fields.”