Nov 20, 2003

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Consumer protection ministry says no

Apple trees: deliberate release refused

(27 Oct.) The Ministry of Consumer Protection in Berlin has refused the planned deliberate release of genetically modified apple trees in Dresden-Pillnitz and Quedlinburg.

The ministry has confirmed to the press that it has informed the Federal Centre for Breeding Research on Cultivated Plants (BAZ) in Dresden of its decision. So far no official justification has been given.

Antje Hermenau and Peter Hettlich, two members of parliament from Saxony (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) had already provided information about the ban by Renate Künast’s ministry. In a press release they gave as the reason the fact that “the development of alternative control measures is much more promising” and would reach the objective faster.

CCBS: no safety concerns

As far back as the beginning of October, the German Central Commission for Biological Safety (CCBS), the expert committee of the authorising authority RKI (Robert Koch Institute), had deliberated on the apple trials and recommended that they be approved with conditions: the trial should be limited to ten years in the first instance and supplemented by accompanying research into topics that included possible allergenicity of the apples. An extension of the trials would have depended on the outcome of this research.

The plan was to test genetically modified apple trees under field conditions in Dresden-Pillnitz and Quedlinburg. The trials – planned to last twenty years – were designed to test whether new, genetically engineered resistance to the fire-blight, mildew and apple scab pathogens are effective and whether they could therefore open up new perspectives in the fight against these apple diseases. In past years, the BAZ has developed various gene constructs that appear suitable for this purpose and has transferred them to apple trees.

Like ten other national research centres, the BAZ comes under the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture.