28 May 2009
A German court on Thursday rejected a bid by Monsanto Co. to have a government ban of its genetically engineered MON810 corn suspended.
Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner banned the sale and planting of the corn last month, citing studies that she said show it poses a danger to the environment.
St. Louis, Mo.-based Monsanto ( MON – news – people ) sought to have the ban suspended pending the outcome of a lawsuit seeking its permanent reversal. That lawsuit is still pending.
A court in Braunschweig rejected its petition for a suspension on May 4, and that decision was upheld Thursday by a higher state administrative court in the northern town of Lueneburg.
The court found that there was no evidence German authorities had overstepped their powers.
The genetically engineered seeds produce a toxin to ward off insects. Monsanto says that genetic trait reduces the need for chemical pesticides, but opponents fear the seeds will spread and alter the natural surroundings.
Although the European Union has authorized the corn, Aigner said when she announced her decision that EU members Austria, Hungary, France, Greece and Luxembourg have imposed similar bans.
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Comment by TraceConsultâ„¢
On the one hand it is nothing but more of the same. The German appeals court rejects Monsanto’s appeal against a lower court’s decision handed down last month, in which the company’s request for a temporary injunction against the German Federal Government was already turned down. This situation now is a very strong indicator that the decision in the actual lawsuit later on can be expected very much along the same lines.
In addition, the Greek Government extends its ban on planting MON810 by another two years. – So what else is new?
New is, on the other hand, that these two events are now continuing a trend, a trend that may have the potential to lay ground for a tradition founded by six important EU Member States. Already two of the three powers in a healthy rule-of-law scenario have declared the planting of a GM variety illegal.
The bets are open which next step happens first – additional Member States or the third power, by way of formal legislation, getting on the wagon of declaring the planting of GM varieties illegal.
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