Germany to allow GMO potato trials

Germany to allow GMO potato trials
May 04, 2009
Germany's Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said on Monday she will allow test cultivation of a potato containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Open air trials of the GMO potato Amflora, developed by German chemicals group BASF presented no threat to public health or the environment, she said.

Aigner said this month she would carry out a new review of an application for the open-air trial cultivation of Amflora, which was test-cultivated on 150 hectares in 2008.

BASF warned last week a decision to stop trials could damage Germany as a location for scientific research.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday many millions of euros had been invested in developing the Amflora potato in the hope that there could be field trials.

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