Germany moves to ban genetically modified crops

By Nathan Gray

- Last updated on GMT

German crop production could go GMO free after Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Christian Schmidt, put forward a move to ban cultivation of genetically modified crops.
German crop production could go GMO free after Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Christian Schmidt, put forward a move to ban cultivation of genetically modified crops.

Related tags Genetically modified crops European union

Germany has begun moves ban the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops under new European Union rules, according to official documents.

The German move to ban GM crops will make use of new ‘opt-out’ rules to stop cultivation of genetically modified crops, even if varieties have been approved by the EU.

A letter seen by news agency Reuters shows that German's Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Christian Schmidt, has told state governments of his intention to inform the EU of the country’s intention to use the new clause to ban the growing of GM crops in the country.

National bans

New laws, approved in March​, made it possible for new genetically modified crops to be approved within the European Union – after years of previous deadlock. However, the new laws also mean that individual countries now have the right to ‘opt out’ and ban GMO crops - even after they have been approved as safe by the European Commission.

The move for an outright ban of GM cultivation on German soil follows pressure from five state governments for a nationwide ban instead of the current ‘patchwork’ approach, which leaves it up to individual German states to decide on a ban.

Under the new EU rules, countries have until 3 October 2015, to inform the Commission that they wish to opt out of new EU GMO cultivation approvals, the ministry letter said.

Schmidt has asked German state authorities to say by 11 September whether their region should be included in the opt-out.

Related topics Policy GM food

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7 comments

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Great article

Posted by Ronald Kipkoech,

I prefer the indigenous crops to Gmos

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irreversible long term ignorance

Posted by Marco,

Germany, Scotland,15 other countries, this scientist and the writing on the wall says GMO is deadly ... for planet and people.. While the purchased scientists and corporate puppet FDA call it " substantially equivalent to natural". Tell that to your gut bacteria that take the GMO genes and express them in your body .. And consider the genetically polluted pollen that will irreversibly affect our foodcrops! Labeling may be too late, to effectively discriminate !

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A little hope....

Posted by Eugene Becker,

that the Germans will stop the GM crops in their country particularly because this is also linked to the use of "potential" cancer causing glyphosat (WHO). In reality enough evidence shows that its not only "potential".
Nobody till now knows about the side effects of this unnecessary technique in farming.

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