"It undermines the credibility of biosafety research."
The announcement by Germany’s minister of agriculture, Ilse Aigner (CSU), that she will be considering a ban on the cultivation of genetically modified Bt maize in Germany, has brought forth heated responses. While environmental organisations were calling on Aigner to bring in a ban immediately, the German plant-breeders’ association (Bundesverband Deutscher Pflanzenzüchter) sees the freedom of scientific research in danger. Ecologist Dr Stefan Rauschen, who has for many years been actively conducting research into issues relating to the environmental safety of Bt maize, has written an open letter to Aigner and the Bavarian environment and health minister, Markus Söder (CSU).
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In an interview with a German newspaper, Berliner Tagesspiegel, German agriculture minister Ilse Aigner announced that she wants to consider a ban on cultivating genetically modified Bt maize MON810 in Germany. "Plant genetic engineering has no recognisable benefit for people here," she said. Moreover, consumers were rejecting genetically modified plants and even farmers did not want them. Her ministry was searching "feverishly" for a solution that would enable individual EU states or federal states to issue cultivation bans. So far, several EU countries and individual regions have issued bans on GM plants that have been approved and assessed as safe in the EU. Both the European Court of Justice and the European Commission have confirmed several times that the Bt maize cultivation bans issued to date comply with European Community legislation only if they are based on new scientific findings. Rejection by the public or a political majority is not enough on its own. However, in all cases where national cultivation bans have been appraised so far, the original assessment of MON810 as "safe for humans, animals and the environment" has been upheld. In case of doubt, however, according to Aigner, she would want to ban MON810 maize. The Bavarian environment minister, Markus Söder, has supported her openly. Not only has he spoken in favour of a MON810 ban in Bavaria, he also wants to put a stop to field trials with GM plants. Söder wants such research to be permitted only if it is conducted in the greenhouse. The Bavarian government is opposed to field trials with Bt maize being conducted in Bavaria. These are carried out by the Federal Office of Plant Varieties and are prescribed by law as part of the cultivar approval process. |
"This political U-turn is very annoying." Open letter from a scientist
Dr Stefan Rauschen of the agroecology working group at RWTH Aachen University (Institute of Biology III) has been involved in several research projects investigating the biological safety of Bt maize. He is currently the coordinator of a large-scale project financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with almost a dozen partner institutions from all over Germany. The latest political announcements prompted him to write an open letter to German agriculture minister Aigner and Bavarian environment minister Söder.
"The results of these research projects have been published in final and interim reports submitted to the BMBF, and in particular in international scientific journals," writes Rauschen. "Nothing has been found to indicate that MON810 represents a bigger or different risk to the environment than that presented by conventional maize cultivation. On the contrary, the cultivation of MON810 proved to be much more gentle on the environment than using insecticides to treat fields infested with the European corn borer."
The scientist said he was astonished that doubt had been cast on the validity of these results with the announcement of a possible ban. "The discrepancy between the scientific findings on the one hand and the political activities on the other undermines the credibility of the German and international researchers and the institutions at which this research is conducted. If politicians do not take the results of this research seriously and ignore them, why should citizens do otherwise?"
Aigner’s line is obviously not shared entirely without reservations by the German cabinet. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) led by Annette Schavan (CDU) warned against breaching the government’s coalition agreement, saying that research into and use of safe genetic engineering must not be "demonised", otherwise Germany could be isolated.
More from GMO Safety
- New trial series with Bt maize: comparing different varieties (joint research project 2008-2011)
- Interview with Stefan Rauschen: “We can clearly show varietal differences.”
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