Courtesy of Agricultural Research Service
One of Germany's 16 states, Sachsen-Anhalt, filed a lawsuit in April against a national regulation governing genetically modified (GM) crops. The suit, which was filed in the country's highest court, argues that the law discriminates against farmers who want to grow approved GM crops and constrains scientific work in an intolerable manner, says Horst Rehberger, minister for economics and labor in Sachsen-Anhalt.
The law has been in force since the beginning of the year, but has been widely criticized for clauses that hold planters of GM crops liable for economic damage to nearby fields. The law also mandates the establishment of a publicly accessible location register that allows anyone to see where GM crops are planted. Fields with GM plants have been destroyed repeatedly by opponents of green biotechnology in Germany.
Sachsen-Anhalt, an economically poor state in the eastern part of the country, has been ...
