Aug 8, 2007

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Amendment to genetic engineering legislation

Minimum separation of 150 and 300 metres for GM maize

(8 Aug. 2007) After months of negotiations, the German minister for agriculture, Horst Seehofer, has agreed on new rules for the cultivation of genetically modified crops with his coalition partners from the CDU and SPD. The cabinet agreed to the amendments to the genetic engineering legislation today. As Seehofer told the press at the end of July, fields of GM and conventional maize must in future be separated by a distance of at least 150 metres. If organic maize is grown in the vicinity, the minimum distance will be double. Other controversial points, such as the liability provisions and the public site register remain largely unaltered. A relaxation of the "GM-free" labelling rules for food are to follow.

The principal item of the legislative package is the draft regulation on good farming practice for the cultivation of GM crops. The cultivation provisions contained in it are designed to ensure that contamination between genetically modified and conventional or organic crops is largely prevented. Special provisions for maize cultivation are contained in an annex to the legislation, while similar cultivation provisions for potatoes are due to follow in the autumn, according to Seehofer.

Separation distances and careful handling to prevent contamination

The main point of disagreement between the coalition partners, CDU, CSU and SPD, was the minimum distance to be respected by GM maize farmers. They eventually agreed on two different distances: 150 metres from fields with conventional maize and 300 metres from organic maize fields.

If a neighbouring maize farmer agrees, the minimum distance can be reduced or scrapped. The minimum distance can also be reduced for official cultivation experiments, provided the male inflorescences (tassels) are removed or covered with bags before flowering so that no pollen can escape.

Farmers who plant GM crops will have to follow other rules in addition to those concerning separation distances:

• Duty to inform: A farmer who plans to sow genetically modified seed must inform neighbouring farms within 300 metres of the field in question. The neighbour then has a month to respond and to inform the GMO farmer of his own cultivation plans.
• Precautions: During sowing, storage and transport the farmer must ensure that GM seed and harvested produce are not mixed with conventional products. For instance, farmers must use closed containers and carefully clean any machines used before reusing them for conventional seed or produce.
• Controlling volunteer plants: A farmer who grows GM crops must monitor the field after harvest and during the following cropping season to check that no leftover seeds germinate on a GMO field that is planted with conventional crops the following year.
• Records: Farmers must keep records of GM crop cultivation and cultivation measures.
• Crop rotation: A GM maize field many not be used for conventional maize until at least two years after the GM maize harvest.

Liability and site register unchanged

In the coalition agreement the current government announced that it would be revising the Genetic Engineering Act and relaxing some of the restrictive provisions it contains on the use of genetically modified crops. But not much has been done at this level. In particular, the controversial liability provisions for the cultivation of GM plants have seen no change. Farmers who plant GM crops will continue to be jointly and severally liable for loss of income suffered by neighbouring conventional farmers as a result of GMO presence, even if the individual cannot be shown to be at fault.

What remains unclear is how a liability case is defined in detail. Trade associations had requested that the government give the GMO labelling threshold of 0.9 per cent as a clear guideline for liability. On the other hand, environmental associations are calling for compensation claims to be allowed even for lower levels of presence of GM plant material. According to Seehofer, however, a hearing of experts found that changing the liability law would not be wise or practicable.

The public register for GMO fields will continue to allow people to see the precise location of the fields online. Critics of this provision had pointed out that it is too easy for people intending to destroy fields to identify the fields with GM crops in the site register.

Relaxation for experimental plantings

What is new, however, is a provision that primarily affects field research: If material from field trials with GM plants finds its way into conventional harvests, the harvest will no longer be deemed unsaleable. It must be ensured, however, that the harvest produce in question does not end up in food or feed. It could be used, for instance, in biogas plants.

Consultations and additions after the summer recess

The cabinet voted in favour of the legislative package on 8 August. After the summer recess the consultations can begin in the Bundestag and Bundesrat.

In the autumn the minister for agriculture, Seehofer, also intends to introduce legislation to make it easier for producers of foods of animal origin such as meat and milk, in particular, to sell their produce under the label “GM free”. The criteria for this are to be brought into line with the wording of the new European Regulation on organic production.