BERLIN (Reuters) — Germany’s federal states, which oppose the cultivation of genetically modified crops, voted earlier this month to urge the national government to seek an opt-out clause for individual European Union states.
The EU has the power to approve GM crops for Europe-wide cultivation but is moving toward an opt-out policy that would allow individual countries to ban GM crops.
Germany’s national government has blocked this till now, alongside Britain, France and Belgium, be-cause of internal divisions over GM policy.
In a separate vote in February, 19 of 28 EU countries voted against granting approval for the cultivation of a GM corn variety, Pioneer 1507, developed by DuPont and Dow Chemical.
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However, that was not enough to reject the crop under the bloc’s weighted voting system, leaving the way open for the European Commission to clear it.
Germany abstained from that vote.
The issue of GM crops has divided Germany’s right-left coalition between Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the Social Democrats.
Merkel’s Christian Democrats favour GMOs, but the Christian Social Union and the SPD oppose biotechnology crops.
GM crops are widely grown in the Americas and Asia, but they are generally unpopular in Europe, where public opposition is strong and environmentalists have raised concerns about the impact on biodiversity.
