German government calls new talks on GM crops
Date: 06-Dec-01
Country: GERMANY
Among those invited are representatives of the GM seeds industry and, for the first time, representatives of churches, trade unions, general farming associations, scientists and groups interested in environmental and consumer protection.
At present GM crops can be grown for research in Germany but commercial production is banned.
A previous round, involving the GM seed industry alone, had started in December 2000. The government halted it in January because of an upsurge in public concern about food safety following the discovery of mad cow disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), in Germany.
In those talks Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had offered state funding to industry for safety research into GM crops in return for a voluntary three-year ban on commercial production.
"This standpoint is not being repeated and we will go into the talks ready to hear suggestions," a spokesman for Kuenast's Agriculture and Consumer Protection Ministry said.
"There is no significance to the timing of these talks, it is simply a question of free time in our scheduling."
GREAT PUBLIC CONCERN OVER THE GM ISSUE
"In the previous round of talks there was the impression among some that they were industry-friendly because they involved the industry only. This time the minister has decided to widen the participation to reflect the great concern among the public about the GM issue," the spokesman added.
German seed producers' association BDP said it would take part but hoped the talks, which are to be held in Berlin, would focus on scientific fact rather than pressure groups repeating past arguments about GM crops.
BDP chief executive Ferdinand Schmitz said he feared that the wider number of participants next week would mean that "every invited group presents its fundamental arguments which its clients will not allow it to alter."
The GM issue in Germany is complicated because technically two independent federal agencies - not the government - are responsible for authorizing commercial GM crop use.
These are the Robert Koch scientific institute, which rules on safety and health, and the federal seeds agency BSA which rules whether seeds are a new type not already on the market.
In June this year the seeds agency scheduled a meeting to approve commercial use of GM feed maize type Artius T25 from Germany seeds company KWS Saat.
But Kuenast issued an unusual pre-emptive consumer protection order directing the agency not to make a decision until further research into GM food safety had been carried out.
KWS Saat spokesman Georg Folttmann told Reuters the company has heard nothing about the status of the additional research and did not expect to get a licence for commercial production soon.
The company has previously said it would not use such a licence until agreement with the government on commercial production had been reached.