GM opponents force research projects to be called off

During the night of 4 April radical GM opponents invaded the trial field. They erected a tower, put up tents and declared the field under occupation. Five days later, they had achieved their goal: Prof. Andreas Schier, an agricultural scientist at Nürtingen-Geislingen University, announced that he would abandon the planned and approved cultivation trials of genetically modified maize.

Schier and a team of students have been studying genetically modified maize on land belonging to the university teaching and research farm at Tachenhausen for several years. One particular aspect of their research involves studying the mycotoxin levels in Bt maize and comparing them with those in conventional reference plants.

"As far as I'm concerned, I have not backed down on technical or scientific grounds. I have simply bowed to pressure from the university management and the university council," Schier explained in a university press statement. He has said that he and his family are also increasingly exposed to "personal hostilities".

Agricultural science students and engineers from the Academy of Farming at Nürtingen-Geislingen University have since written an open letter to the vice chancellor, Werner Ziegler, arguing in favour of continuing the trials with GM maize.

Giessen: University trial site under occupation

A similar protest had taken place in Giessen a few days earlier. A small group of GM opponents occupied a field on land belonging to Justus Liebig University, where a team led by Karl-Heinz Kogel, Professor of plant diseases and plant protection, had been conducting safety research trials of genetically modified barley for the past two years. One aspect of their research was the possible effects of this barley on beneficial fungi which from a symbiotic relationship with the plants. The GM barley was developed in the USA and there are no plans for its commercial use in Europe.

Radical GM opponents had already destroyed parts of the field in previous years, severely hampering the project. No deliberate release trials of GM barley were planned for 2008. The activists now plan to occupy the field until the research project is completely abandoned. The university has reported them, but has not yet had them removed.