Biotech Updates

New Rules Amended Regulations in Gene Technology Act

August 3, 2007

Horst Seehofer, German agricultural minister, has agreed with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Germany on an amendment of the current Gene Technology Act. The agreement defines the minimum distance between conventional maize fields and genetically modified (GM) maize as 150 meters, and to neighboring organic fields as 300 meters.

A core part of the draft is comprised of rules for the cultivation of genetically modified plants. These rules are aimed at preventing the admixture of GM with conventional or biological cultivations. Farmers cultivating GM plants are responsible for economic losses due to GM traces in neighboring conventional fields even when the farmers are in compliance with the guidelines of the Good Farming Practice.

The complete article is available at http://www.coextra.eu/country_reports/news883.html.