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Rights of beekeepers upheld over GM maize (15/5/2007)

NOTE: GM maize is the only GM crop being grown in any EU countries and its cultivation is being met with fierce resistance.

Last week, for instance, Der Spiegel reported that the German Government had introduced tough new restrictions on the sale of GM maize seeds that were tantamount to a de facto ban.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7854

And from the e-mail below (from the Ban-GE list) it seems GM maize cultivation may be under attack not just from the executive but also from the judiciary.

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Subject: GM maize chaos in Germany
Date: Sat, 12 May 2007 14:50:31 +0200
From: Paul & Katrin Davis

A couple of days ago the court in Augsburg, Germany passed judgement in a case bought by a beekeeper, who has a GM Maize field near him. The court judged that the State of Bayern had the responsibility to ensure that honey was not contaminated by pollen from Monsanto's Bt810 corn (this also calls into question the 0.1% allowable contamination proposed by the EU). In addition, it was said that the plants already growing should be pulled up or the pollen in the plant be made safe.

There are other such court cases under way in other parts of Germany. It also casts an interesting light on the prosecution of a number of people who recently took part in a "field-clearing" action in the State of Brandenburg. Their main defense was that Monsanto's Bt810 was dangerous, but the judge prosecuted them on the basis of criminal damage.

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