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Sachsen-Anhalt, one of Germany's 16 states, yesterday (April 12) filed a lawsuit at the country's highest court against national regulations governing genetically modified (GM) crops.
The suit brought to the Federal Constitutional Court argues that the law discriminates against farmers who want to grow approved GM crops and constrains scientific work in an intolerable manner, said Horst Rehberger, minister for economics and labor in Sachsen-Anhalt.
"The GM law is inconsistent with basic laws such as the Freedom of Profession, the Freedom of Science, the Protection of Property and the general principle of equality," Rehberger told reporters in Berlin. Rehberger is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (FDP). The GM law, he said, "far exceeds EU regulatory requirements."
The law has been in force since the beginning of the year, but has been widely criticized for clauses that hold planters of GM crops liable for economic damage to nearby fields. The law also mandates the establishment of a publicly accessible location register that allows anyone to see where GM crops are planted. Fields with GM plants have been destroyed repeatedly by opponents of green biotechnology in Germany.
Sachsen-Anhalt, an economically poor state in the eastern part of the country, has been promoting biotechnology as an important growth sector since 2003. Thirty biotech companies are based there and the first nationwide field trial for GM corn, designed to investigate the coexistence of GM and conventional corn, was coordinated by Sachsen-Anhalt last year.
Renate Künast, Germany's agriculture minister and member of the Green Party called the suit "perfidious." She faces increasing resistance to her policies on green biotechnology and to the law, which was drafted by her office. Critics accuse her of hindering the introduction of GM plants for ideological reasons.
Last month, Künast had to defend in Parliament (Bundestag) her decision to cancel at least two research projects into the safety of GM crops that were to have been conducted in government institutes.
Then, on March 17, Künast fired Herrmann Schlagheck, head of one of six departments in her ministry and a recognized expert on plant breeding. Künast's office did not want to comment on the dismissal, but Helmut Heiderich, spokesman on biotechnology for the Christian Democrat (CDU) opposition in the Bundestag, told The Scientist: "Schlagheck was very technically oriented. So he did not have the right ideological orientation."
The National Office of Breeds (Bundessortenamt), an authority under Schlagheck's command, had complained in an official letter at the end of February that it was unable to evaluate GM crops, because of "the general framework in the new GM law."
In this context, it appears that the law will be changed soon. Künast has already signalled that she is ready for certain changes. For one thing, the publicly available part of the location register on the Internet will now not show the exact fields where GM crops are planted, only general areas.
There is also an ongoing debate over a liability fund for farmers and scientists that will pay for damages to neighboring fields if crops are contaminated. Künast and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder favor such a fund, at least if the damages are caused by public projects. It is unclear though, who will pay into the fund.
The government needs to find a compromise with the opposing parties, because the GM law has a second part that is supposed to pass the upper house, the Bundesrat, on April 29. In the Bundesrat, the majority—CDU/CSU—is demanding changes in the first part of the law, which did not need the approval of the upper house, before it passes the second part of the law.
"All we want," said Heiderich, "are the same competition rules that the rest of Europe has."
References
| 1. | | [http://www.sachsen-anhalt.de/rcs/LSA/pub/L_EN_2/fldsxa3e3yliy/fldc0xjrt1d1q/fldxnoltx50y2/pgo48fxio5dq/index.jsp]
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| | | Horst Rehberger
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| 2. | | [http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20041201/01]
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| | | N. Stafford, "GM law 'a blow for science,'" The Scientist, December 1, 2004.
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| 3. | | [http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20040413/03/]
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| | | N. Stafford, "German GM wheat trials continue," The Scientist, April 13, 2004.
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| 4. | | [http://www.renate-kuenast.de/]
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| | | Renate Kϋnast
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| 5. | | [http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20050308/01]
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| | | G. Kienzlen, "Politician stopped GM studies," The Scientist, March 08, 2005.
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| 6. | | [http://www.bundestag.de/mdb15/mdb14/bio/H/heidehe0.html]
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| | | Helmut Heiderich
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