Germany has banned the cultivation of GM corn, claiming that MON 810 is dangerous for the environment. But that argument might not stand up in court and Berlin could face fines totalling millions of euros if American multinational Monsanto decides to challenge the prohibition on its seed.
The sowing season may be just around the corner, but this year German farmers will not be planting gentically modified crops: German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner announced Tuesday she was banning the cultivation of GM corn in Germany.
Under the new regulations, the cultivation of MON 810, a GM corn produced by the American biotech giant Monsanto, will be prohibited in Germany, as will the sale of its seed. Aigner told reporters Tuesday she had legitimate reasons to believe that MON 810 posed “a danger to the environment,” a position which she said the Environment Ministry also supported. In taking the step, Aigner is taking advantage of a clause in EU law which allows individual countries to impose such bans.
“Contrary to assertions stating otherwise, my decision is not politically motivated,” Aigner said, referring to reports that she had come under pressure to impose a ban from within her party, the conservative Bavaria-based Christian Social Union. She stressed that the ban should be understood as an “individual case” and not as a statement of principle regarding future policy relating to genetic engineering.
Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) both welcomed the ban. Greenpeace’s genetic engineering expert, Stephanie Töwe, said the decision was long overdue, explaining that numerous scientific studies demonstrated that GM corn was a danger to the environment.
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{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
Great news!! Let’s ban Monsanto and GMO’s around the world!
How will agriculture feed the world without GM crops? It won’t! The thought that all GM crops are bad is just nonsense! Granted, they are not all perfect either. That is why GM crops need to be tested intensively before commercial use. Once thoroughly tested and approved, GM crops will benefit the whole world.
The world is populating at an extraordinary rate and to ban GM crops would be a huge set back for everyone! In the past 5 years there has been record high corn prices despite record high corn yields. Why is this? it’s all about supply and demand. Without GM corn the price would be even higher and all the food products that people buy would be more expensive. More expensive food means that there will be a larger number of starving people in the world. I, being involved in agriculture, see it as my duty to feed the world.
For people that think GM crops should be banned, shame on you! Who do you think you are to make the decision whether or not poverty stricken people get to eat tonight!
If you oppose GM, buy organic, it’s just that simple! Oh, the higher prices that you’re paying for your organic foods, that’s due to the increased cost of production for keeping the inefficiencies in agricultural practices of the past.
I am not a fan of GMO’s and I do understand what your saying about the population. Where I have the issue is these dirtbags are suing the little farmers when their crap pollenates on their farms until they’re bankrupt. Monsanto also tried to make it illegal for anyone to simply mark their food “non-GMO.” There is more to it than just feeding people. Monsanto cannot be trusted. They’re animals.
@Farmer dan.
The high prices we’ve been seeing are not so much due to supply and demand but rather speculation on such in commodities markets.
As I understand it, the is an increase in cost for organic product is only partially due to increase in production costs while the rest of the difference is actually the result of the disbursement of government subsidies for GM corn varieties vs organics. On the whole, a lot of the cost of producting corn is actually hidden in taxes and government debt.
GM products, though not always Monsanto, have been good for global production. Organics have been good in that they have reminded people that better farming practices need to be implemented to preserve and build soils rather than destroy them slowly. It is fine, in my opinion for a government to do what Germany has done so long as unbiased scientific rigor has been employed in making the decision.
I respect your chosen profession. The higher prices in corn, really cost and demand? Isn’t it more about price speculating? Your gm products are not the problem. The globalization of out food supply by huge corporations that have the power in government and unfortunetly, a hand in your success and failure is frightening. More frightening tho’ is your inability to see the landscape for the next generation.
Very interesting! Im happy Germany is finally making this stance… I wouldn’t have understood the controversy without seeing Food, Inc.
Keep up these kind of posts
Chris
Now we just need to get America on board to ban it too.
This is great. Hopefully more countries will follow suit and ban other Monsanto products.
Monsanto is a very evil corporation run by evil men. This is good news, but this needs to become a trend, which is very far off.
Dear Germany,
If we give you their US address will you send the luftwaffe over and bomb them back into the stone age?
Thank you
American farmers.
Nice idea …
Unfortunately, Germany (still) has a different foreign-policy then the US
So happy for Germany – it’s people and it’s landscape. Please share this article where you can. Hopefully more and more Americans will begin to see the evil of GMO’S.
Peace……………….
Good for Germany. The USDA is corrupt, and speckled with Monsanto people (and Swift and the other 4 or 5 major food producers). Till the executive cabinet system of cronyism is fixed here, other countries like Germany have the luxury to tell Monsanto to shove it, but in America the corporate fascism and total lack of ethics is piled deep, it’s integrated into the cabinet
For those of you wholly in support of banning GM crops, there’s a few things you should understand:
* Humans have been genetically modifying crops SINCE WE STARTED AGRICULTURE. Very few if any of the crops we have now are what the plants started out ot be in nature. We’re just able to do a more efficient job of it now.
* GM crops are not poisonous, they’re not toxic, they don’t harm the environemnt. Those ‘scientific studies’ that claim otherwise are by and large funded by guys like Greenpeace, who if you didn’t know convinced one of the African governments to decline accepting tons of GM crops to feed its population. As a result, millions starved. All because the organic movement has no concept of the science behind genitic engineering.
* Yes, Monsato is probably a big, evil corporation so on and so on. They do shady things, and we all know and will eventually see them bankrupt by taking our dollars elsewhere. Don’t punish the science cause some greedy bastards are making a buck of it.
* Please, for the love of your fellow man, stop pretending you’re going to revolutionize agriculture by reverting us to organic farming. We did that, all through history. It led to famine, starvation, and wars of conquest because its too unreliable. GM crops can withstand harsh weather, repel insects and disease, and have higher yields than non-GM plants. We have the potentail to end world hunger FOREVER in this century, but not if we’re told lies about the science that can do it. You can’t build a peaceful planet on empty stomachs and human misery. Contemplate that, and read your history. GM is the future, OUR future. Enjoy.
+1
We have NOT been genetically modifying crops since we started agriculture, what we have been doing is selective breeding. Working with nature, to choose the traits that we prefer in crops. Genetically modified crops have genes inserted into them resulting in plants that could NEVER occur in nature. This is how companies like Monsanto are able to patent GMOs, because they could never occur in nature.
You say, “GM crops are not poisonous, they’re not toxic, they don’t harm the environemnt. Those ’scientific studies’ that claim otherwise are by and large funded by guys like Greenpeace…”
… and all the studies supporting GM crops are funded by who? Who do you think has the money, and benefits from pro-GMO studies? Organizations like Greenpeace have to fund studies showing the danger of these GMOs because otherwise all the studies will be funded by the people making money off GMOs.
“… Greenpeace who if you didn’t know convinced one of the African governments to decline accepting tons of GM crops to feed its population. As a result, millions starved. ”
You’re assuming that the GM crops wouldn’t have failed completely. That they would have produced enough food for everyone. That’s a big, completely unsupported assumption.
One thing that would go a long way toward ending world hunger, which you at least seem to understand the importance of, is developed countries like the USA ending their over-consumption of the world’s resources, including food. If most Americans are overweight or obese, don’t you think they could cut their caloric intake in half and donate the rest to countries seriously needing more food, like Africa? You seem to think the solution can only be in producing more. Our beautiful planet can only produce so much, and those of us in developed countries have created a total imbalance in nature by our greed and over–consumption and manipulation of nature. Producing more is not the answer, it’s not sustainable, especially at the rate that we are poisoning and destroying our Earth. Urgently and seriously reducing the over-consumption has to be part of the solution. I think it was Buckminster Fuller who calculated that there was enough food and energy for everyone on the planet, if we all shared what was created and stopped over-consuming.
You say, “Please, for the love of your fellow man, stop pretending you’re going to revolutionize agriculture by reverting us to organic farming. We did that, all through history. It led to famine, starvation, and wars of conquest because its too unreliable.”
… so what’s changed now that we have GM crops everywhere? There’s still famine, starvation and wars of conquest. GM crops have not made a difference.
You also say, “GM crops can withstand harsh weather, repel insects and disease, and have higher yields than non-GM plants. We have the potentail to end world hunger FOREVER in this century, but not if we’re told lies about the science that can do it. ”
… You’ve fallen for the propaganda. Where’s the proof? GM crops are not the solution to these problems. We have been told lies about the science, the lie is that it can’t do it. Ask the rice farmers in India.
GM crops are weaker than plants found in nature, just as many of our selectively bred cultivars are. The only thing GM crops can withstand is the chemical poisons that commercial farmers use to kill everything they don’t want to grow, you know those carcinogenic agrichemicals like Monsanto’s Roundup.
Is the question really whether gm farming is right or wrong or is it that companies are allowed to control our food supply in this way? If I want to grow or purchase organic it is by choice and american right. Monsanto and companies like them and our American politics are making the attempt to take that right away from us
Oh come on, there have been just as many instances if not more where famine has been a direct consequence of GM crops inability to deal with a single unaccounted for environmental factor.
Also the argument that GM is equivalent to selective breeding only holds in the broadest sense. GM seeds are direct clones, i.e. identical seeds, whereas selevtive breeding still expresses genetic variation, traits are exagerated.
Fertilizers and pesticides used in modern farming are certainly harmful to the environment, but I would wager that their impact is insignificant compared to the 2x increase in cultivated land area that would be required to feed the world with organically grown food. Certainly GM crops will help as future varieties will need fewer and less dangerous herbicides and pesticides to be effective. It’s obviously not just a coincidence that the areas of the world practicing subsistence farming are the same areas that experience famine, while areas that rely on industrialized farming produce excess food to subsidize them.
Monsanto’s GMO Corn Linked To Organ Failure, Study Reveals : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/12/monsantos-gmo-corn-linked_n_420365.html
It’s not that Monsanto modifies crop genetics to improve them and feed more hungry people, they do it to patent the genetics (eg for Roundup) and control the market by forcing monoculture on those who farm in America. That’s how they destroyed the American soybean farmer. Most people around the world are not starving because there is a lack of food. They actually don’t need another “green revolution” because there is food to feed everyone. This is more a political issue. Many are starving typically because of the overproduction of cheap food in the US drives down market prices around the world, making it very difficult to make a living producing food.
You absolutely have to watch a film torrent called “the world according to monsanto”
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1189345/
As a traditional plant breeder, I can tell everyone that GM crop development is not anything to be compared to traditional hybridization. First and foremost, the genes I select are from plants very closely related to the plant I am trying to “modify”. I do not (nor could I) take genes from a completely different organism and insert them into the plant genome. Certainly, I do not bring in a gene that produces a toxin to kill insects. We talk about the hazards of pesticides on our food, but what can we do when the pesticide is inside every cell of the plant, the seeds, the roots? We would have no choice but to eat the pesticide! Genetic engineering has potential for spectacular results, but poisoning people for profit is not one of them.
@wozza.xing
No need for torrent, you can find the film at
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6262083407501596844#
I’m coming from Germany, while my parents – esp. my grandmother – have british forefathers. So I believe to be western European with some Anglo-Saxon impact. Your interesting thoughts about the German way seem to be extremely negative to me; I’d strongly believe, American politicians could learn much from the way german society is handling its crisis until now.
Kudos to Germany! I hope they can defend their right to protect themselves from GMO contamination and the corporate greed of Monsanto. May the U.S. agencies stand up and represent its citizens in the same way. We are selling out future generations, and anyone who says different is uninformed.
Great news. It is unresponsible of our polititicians to allow this frankenstein products to be allowed.
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Monsanto and the other GMO-producers have found a way to force one or more genes into a living organism in order to produce some extra traits for the plant. They do not have a clue where in the DNA the patented genes are inserted and they do not have a clue what kind of unwanted traits that will be produced.
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In Norway we currently have not allowed the use of GMO in food and feed, but it might not be long before it is allowed here to. The reason for that is that many scientists in Norway, for many years now, have worked hard to try to convince the politicians and decicionmakers of how “fantastic” the GMO are.
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We are working hard in Norway now to make visible to the public, all the lies that are produced by scientists and companies that make money, directly or indirectly on GMOs.
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In Norway, the “Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety” are infested by people that for many years have openly misinformed the Norwegian public about undocumented allegations about the benefits of using GMO. It is pretty ugly that these people can sit and influence what food are safe or not. Another thing is that these people also use scientific data from Monsanto …. and just accept the Monsanto reports as it is. That is also pretty crazy, especially considering the way Monsanto for many years have lied to officials and the public about their own products…. do not forget about PCB, DIOXIN and AGENT ORANGE. IS THERE ANY REASON TO BELIVE SCIENTIFIC DATA FROM THIS COMPANY?
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What they do not say is that the use of GMO in agriculture cause the following:
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1. The patented seeds will spread to conventional crops. It is impossible to avoid. This alone should be the reason number one totally ban the use of GMO outside the laboratories.
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2. The use of patented seeds make it so the farmer will not be able to reuse the seeds from his own crop or from other farmers crop. The GMO-producer own the farmers crop, because of the patented seeds.
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3. Use of GMO in agriculture gives the GMO-producer total control of the food supply and also make it possible for the GMO-producer to decide which traits the crops should have….. that is they control which genes that are to be used in the next generation of seeds.
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4. Indepentent research have many times now showed that some GM-crops are highly toxic to animals, and may cause uncontrolled cellgrowth, damage to organs, cancer.. and more.
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Issue #1 above should be more than good enough reson for a total ban on GMO in agriculture.
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Just because Monsanto managed to force some genes into a living organism, does not mean that they have fully understood all the consequenses these newly inserted genes will have on these organisms. Their patented seeds are this very moment causing disaster on the environment and their patented genes are spreading into related species, into animals in the soil and are causing that prices on seeds all over the world are rising.
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The GMO-industry is a sick industry and should never be allowed outside sealed laboratories.
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If you can, take a look at how your own government handles the approval of these GMOs. Take a look what the scientists that work for the GMO industry tries to tell the public about these products. Most of what they claim are either lies and/or they are just telling you about benefits that they would like to see…..
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THE GMO INDUSTRY and many scientists claim they have control over the genes. THEY DO NOT! What they control or want to control are the food supply.
Who pay these scientists bills anyway…..? Monsanto, the GMO-industry…. Who?
Please, do your research. The United States government and our media are entangled with Monsanto and companies like them our public are uniformed. We will have to fight this in the United States I plea to you don’t allow this in your country. If you fear globalization this is the first step. Once in Europe it will be also your battle.
completely entangled with Monsanto, the public is uninformed
This, as well as S 510, is all about food control, leading to people control. As wanted war criminal Henry Kissinger put it: …”‘If you control the oil you control the country; if you control food, you control the population.”
Here is all about how the GMO came to be “approved” in the first place:
http://www.biointegrity.org/FDADeception.html
Pretty nasty, and I suggest JM Haugen and all other GMO-positives read that information.
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