Berlin, Germany
April 14, 2009
Source:
GMO Compass
German
agriculture minister Ilse Aigner (CSU) has banned the
cultivation of MON810 Bt maize in Germany with immediate effect,
invoking a safeguard clause in European genetic technology
legislation.
The approval of MON810 maize is suspended with immediate effect.
"With that, any cultivation and any further sale of MON810 maize
in Germany is prohibited," said the agriculture minister in a
press release. The German states are responsible for monitoring
the ban.
Aigner based her decision on a safeguard clause of the EU's
release directive. According to that, a Member State may
temporarily restrict the sale of a GMO product, when "new or
additional information" gives „ reasonable grounds to believe”
that the GMO product concerned presents a risk to either human
health or the environment.
As to what the risks are in the case of MON810 or on what new
scientific evidence Aigner has based her decision, she didn't
say.
She referred to five other EU countries which had invoked the
safeguard clause for banning the cultivation of MON810 maize.
However, up to now, these national bans have not been upheld in
the scientific assessments called for in the EU directives. The
scientific GMO Panel of EFSA again came to the conclusion that
there is no new scientific-based evidence to justify a national
ban on MON810.
These national cultivation bans, though, have received some
political support recently. In a vote of the Council of
Ministers there was no qualified majority reached to force
Austria or Hungary to rescind their bans on MON810. The EU
Commission had suggested the vote, as there was no scientific
indication of any safety issue.
Monsanto has announced the possibility of taking legal action
against the ban. According to a report from SPIEGEL online, the
Federation could be faced with damage claims of six to seven
million Euros, should the ban not stand up to a judical
examination.
See also on GMO-Compass:
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