Germany: Minister Aigner bans MON810 Bt maize

(14 April 2009) 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 judicial examination.

See also on GMO-Compass:

• GMO Database: Maize Mon 810

Further information:

• EFSA: Request from the European Commission related to the safeguard clause invoked by Austria on maize MON810 and T25 according to Article 23 of Directive 2001/18/EC
• Proposal for a Council Decision concerning the privisional prohibition of the use and sale in Austria of genetically modified maize MON810