Germany approves GMO sugar and potato field trials
A friend brought this Reuters article to my attention today. Germany has approved genetically modified sugar beets and potatoes for field trials. The sugar beets, made by Planta and potatoes, produced by BASF Plant Science will be grown experimentally for four years. Read about the restrictions below.
Dr. C Kameswara Rao
Germany approves GMO sugar and potato field trials
Reuters
April 2, 2008
HAMBURG, April 2 (Reuters) - Germany's state food safety agency said on Wednesday it approved open-air field trials of sugar beet and potatoes containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
The company Planta has been given permission to sow 12,000 square metres of GMO sugar beet at two locations between 2008 and 2011, agency BVL said.
BASF Plant Science, part of German chemicals group BASF (BASF.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), has been given approval to plant GMO potatoes on 30,000 square metres divided among three locations between 2008 and 2012.
"The BVL's safety assessment came to the conclusion that the open-air trials would not have any dangerous influence on humans or animals or the environment," the agency said.
The crops may not be sold as food or animal feed.
The GMO sugar beet in the trials is resistant to the weed killer glyphosat.
To prevent GMO organisms being spread by pollen, Planta must check sugar beets every two weeks for flowering and destroy any flowers before they bloom, the agency said. There must be a 10-metre gap between the GMO potatoes and conventional crops.
