Biotech firms seek German government approval of pest-resistant maize

American biotech firms (Monsanto and Pioneer) want pest resistant maize — Mon 810 — to be approved provisionally in Germany.

But Alexander Muller of the consumer protection office says he doesn’t believe that Mon 810 can be legally approved as seed. "It is not allowed under European law," he announced over the radio. For the past seven years, Mon 810 has been approved in the European Union (EU) only as feed and as food. Cultivation of the crop was explicitly excluded.

Last year, the EU Commission approved 17 types of maize in the Mon 810 line after Spain experienced no problems with its cultivation. But according to Muller that approval might need to be examined further by the European Court of Justice. Muller said, "If our legal interpretation is correct, the Spanish will have to see if their approval was legitimate."

The environmental watchdog group — Greenpeace is one of the groups opposed to the cultivation of Mon 810, saying that the crop can harm butterflies. Greece, Austria, Poland, and Hungary have not given the go-ahead for the cultivation of Mon 810. Still, German regulators have been testing the line for several years. Regardless of the legal fight, the crop is already being cultivated in Germany on a trial basis.

The use of genetically modified (GM) crops — maize, soybeas, rapessed, and cotton account for the bulk of biotech crops in the market. GM plantation is increasing. It is now 80 million hectares (8 billion acres).

But most of the EU countries, including Germany, have remained extremely wary of biotech crop technologies. Concerns include giving multinational corporations control of basic food products through gene patents, the possibility of spreading allergens through genetic manipulations and spread of resistance to antibiotics used in genetic engineering — concern that are shared by non-government organization such as Greenpeace.

"There is not much research done on the risks of GM plants on the environment or on human health," Ulrike Bendel, a Greenpeace spokesperson for the GM issue told DW-WORLD.

Germany approved the growing of genetically modified crops in last year under controversial law that imposes strict penalties for possible violations of food-safety regulations. The law also requires that labeling of foodstuffs produced with genetically modified organisms and allows conventional farmers to file for damages if other growers have contaminated their fields with GM seeds.