The organizers of a research project in which German fields were planted with genetically modified (GM) corn said today (November 24) that the test results prove that GM corn fields can "co-exist" with neighboring non-GM fields.
The announcement was made at a Berlin press conference just days before Germany's Bundestag, or lower house of Parliament, is expected to give final approval to a new law that would strictly regulate GM crops. Opponents of the law say it will stifle innovation and most likely trigger an exodus of GM research from Germany.
The tests, in 28 GM corn fields surrounded by non-GM fields in seven states, have been a magnet for controversy in Germany, whose environmentally friendly Greens Party is a junior coalition partner of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's ruling SPD party. Test field locations were kept secret to prevent their destruction by anti-GM crop activists.
Speaking to The Scientist after the ...
