ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)
AMERISCAN: FEBRUARY 18, 2000
Environment
Germany Bans Novartis Biotech Maize
BERLIN, Germany, February 18, 2000 (ENS) -
In what environmental groups have described
as a "sensational" move, German health
minister Andrea Fischer yesterday called a
last minute halt to authorisation for a
genetically modified (GM) crop variety.
The variety of corn, or maize, affected by
the ban is made by the Swiss agricultural
biotechnology firm Novartis.
Germany's competent authority for seed
registration, the Robert Koch Institute,
was to have approved the dossier today.
Under European Union law, GM sequences to
be placed in crops must first be authorised
under the 1990 "deliberate release"
directive, currently being revised and
strengthened. The GM sequence, or "event"
in this case was approved in 1997.
Then, actual plant varieties containing
approved GM sequences must be licensed by
national plant registration offices. It is
this process that was halted by Fischer
yesterday.
Germany has invoked article 16 of the
deliberate release directive to stop the
authorisation. This allows European Union
member states to prohibit use of a GM crop
variety if there is new scientific evidence
of risk.
Austria and Luxembourg both banned the same
GM crop in February 1997 on this pretext.
France, Portugal, Italy and the UK have all
subsequently introduced restrictions,
though none is thought to have invoked the
article 16 procedure.
The GM crop variety now banned by Germany
is a maize variety called "Windsor,"
containing the GM event 176, developed by
Novartis.
Event 176 makes plants pest resistant by
expressing the "Bt" bacterial toxin gene,
resistant to the herbicide glufosinate
ammonium and resistant to three kinds of
antibiotics.
According to the German government, the
"new evidence" justifying a ban is recent
scientific work suggesting that crops
expressing the Bt toxin gene could harm
Monarch butterflies, lacewings and soil
microfauna. A health ministry spokesperson
said that a report by the independent Öko
Institute had also raised new fears over
the antibiotic resistance marker genes in
event 176.
However, some observers suggest the ban is
politically driven. One source who wished
to remain anonymous said that there had
been "panic" reaching up to senior levels
in the government when it was realised that
Germany's first ever cultivation approval
for a transgenic crop was about to go
through while the European Union deliberate
release law is still being revised and
after EU environment ministers had
instituted a virtual moratorium on new
approvals under the law as they did in June
1999.
{Published in cooperation
with ENDS Environment Daily,
Europe's choice for
environmental news.
Environmental Data Services
Ltd, London. Email:
envda...@ends.co.uk}
*********************************************************************
GERMANY BANS NOVARTIS BIOTECH MAIZE
BERLIN, Germany, February 18, 2000 (ENS) - In what environmental groups have
described as a "sensational" move, German health minister Andrea Fischer
yesterday called a last minute halt to authorisation for a genetically
modified (GM) crop variety.
Published in cooperation with ENDS Environment Daily
Website: http://www.ends.co.uk/envdaily }
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb2000/2000L-02-18-03.html
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