Germany bans cultivation of Monsanto GMO maize

Berlin/Hamburg: In a significant blow to the bio-technology industry Germany has said it will ban cultivation and sale of genetically modified (GMO) maize. The ban puts Germany alongside France, Austria, Hungary, Greece and Luxembourg which have banned MON 810 maize despite its approval by the EU for commercial use throughout the bloc.

MON 810, also known by its trade name YieldGard, is a seed sold by American firm Monsanto. The maize will no longer be sown for this summer's harvest, German agriculture and consumer protection minister Ilse Aigner told a news conference.

The ban comes despite European Union rulings that the biotech grain is safe.

"I have come to the conclusion that there is a justifiable reason to believe that genetically modified maize of the type MON 810 presents a danger to the environment," Aigner said. She also pointed out that five other EU states had taken the same action.

The decision to ban was based on scientific factors and was not a political one, Aigner said. It was an individual case and not a fundamental decision against GMO crops, she added.

The EU Commission, which has so far failed to get the bans in other countries lifted warned Tuesday it would examine the German decision.

"The Commission will analyse the ban by Germany with the adequate scientific information support and the Commission will decide on the most appropriate follow-up toward this situation," said Commission spokeswoman Nathalie Charbonneau.

The MON 810 maize is engineered to be resistant to corn borer, a butterfly whose caterpillars damage maize plants. Aigner said her ministry would now prepare a report as to her country's strategy on GMO crops.

Aigner said the environment ministry also believed GMOs presented a threat to the environment.

Aigner's decision was also welcomed by German environmentalist association BUND. "The suspicions that genetic maize damages nature and animals are so widespread that a ban is absolutely necessary," BUND chairman Hubert Weiger said.

Environmental group Greenpeace also called on Aigner to work inside the EU to stop further approvals of GMO maize.

Meanwhile, the south German state of Bavaria welcomed the decision and now planned to become a GMO-free zone, Bavarian state environment minister Markus Soeder said.

German farmers' association DBV did not support or criticise the decision in a short statement, saying it expected the decision to have been made according to scientific principles.

"As in the public there is a deep divide between those who favour and oppose (GMO crops)", the DBV said.

Ferdinand Schmitz, chief executive of the association of German seed producers, said the decision was arbitrary and would damage Germany's position as a location for research. He accused Aigner of trying to pander to voters in the upcoming European parliamentary elections.

Monsanto has declined immediate comment.

(See: Genetic engineered crops fail to significantly boost yields)