Chancellor’s majority for nature conservation agency

(19 Dec.) With their majority in the Bundestag, the SPD and Greens have dismissed the Bundesrat’s objection to the law for adapting resp… more

Biosafety research

Since 1987 the German government has been supporting the development of genetic engineering with special programmes aimed at promoting researc… more

New Genetic Engineering Act: Not before the end of 2004

(11 Dec.) A preliminary draft of a new German Genetic Engineering Act is to be presented in January 2004. Now the Federal Chancellery has inte… more

Approval for Bt11 maize delayed again

(8 December 2003) The EU’s first authorisation since 1998 of a food product made from genetically modified crops is still pending. At th… more

Efficient weed control leads to decline in biodiversity

The cultivation of genetically modified plants comes at the expense of biodiversity in fields. The results of the latest long-term British stu… more

Coexistence is possible – but at a cost

Interest in the topic was tremendous: about 250 experts from 26 countries took part in the first European Conference on Co-existence of Geneti… more

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 Dres… more

Mediation fails

(14 Nov.) The Bundestag/Bundesrat mediation committee failed yesterday in Berlin to reach a compromise on adapting responsibilities within gen… more

“We were surprised by the large number of wild bee species.”

When oilseed rape comes into flower, the fields are teeming with insects. Stefan Kühne and his colleagues were able to identify countless diff… more

“We found hybrids only in brown mustard.”

Oilseed rape is able to outcross to several related species, but fertile progeny are rare. A working group at the Federal Biological Research … more

“Selection pressure is critical”

Can micro-organisms absorb genetic material from plants and integrate it into their own genome? And could [[A:665|transgenes]] spread in the e… more

“Taking a more differentiated view”

It is even being debated in the Bundestag: the British study on the possible effect of herbicide management strategies in maize, rape and beet… more

European Commisssion backs down over seed

(24 October) In the row over thresholds for genetically modified seed, the European Commission announced this week that Member States would be… more

Fewer weeds, fewer butterflies

The cultivation of herbicide-tolerant GM plants could have a negative impact on the species diversity of agricultural ecosystems. This core me… more

“… they don’t spread unchecked”

The Federal Centre for Breeding Research on Cultivated Plants (BAZ) in Dresden-Pillnitz developed genetically modified apple trees with the ai… more

Apples: Deliberate releases planned

Genetically modified apple trees are to be tested in the field for the first time in Germany. The aim is to produce apple trees with increa… more

Beetle alert reaches Germany

This summer the Western corn rootworm was discovered for the first time near the German border – close to Basel/Mulhouse Airport –… more

Mediators called in

(26 Sep.) The German Bundesrat today called in the mediation committee for the government’s planned legislation on transferring the resp… more

No resistant pests

Despite extensive cultivation of Bt plants in the USA, it appears that no pests with resistance to the Bt toxin have yet emerged. This was the… more

Obstacles to plant genetic engineering

(27 August) An amended Genetic Engineering Act is intended to transpose into German law several new pieces of EU legislation that are already … more