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"Ohne Gentechnik" at the International Green Week food fair 2023

02/09/2023 - The German Association for Food without Genetic Engineering (VLOG) has used this year’s International Green Week food fair in Berlin (IGW) to communicate the importance of "Ohne Gentechnik" (Non-GMO) business to politicians and to warn them against lowering EU standards. German Agriculture Minister Özdemir also took a stand on genetic engineering.

VLOG was represented in the hall of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) at IGW 2023, where talks were held with members of the German Parliament (Bundestag) from the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens Party, the Liberals (FDP) and the Christian Democrats (CDU), as well as BMEL State Secretary Silvia Bender and the new Lower Saxony Minister of Agriculture Miriam Staudte (Greens).

Communicating the meaning of "Ohne Gentechnik" to politicians

VLOG Managing Director Alexander Hissting draws a positive conclusion: "We were able to explain to politicians that 'Ohne Gentechnik' is an important economic factor that would be acutely threatened by a lowering of the EU standards for risk assessment and labelling of genetically modified plants and food. Naturally, some politicians had differing positions and assessments, but the vast majority agreed with us that labelling for all types of genetic engineering must continue also in the future."

EU Commission announces proposal for 7 June 2023

Meanwhile, the EU Commission has announced its legislative proposal on the future handling of genetic engineering in agriculture and food for 7 June 2023. It will be decisive how the European Parliament and the individual EU Member States position themselves on this. Germany plays an important role in this. In a VLOG survey in the run-up to the IGW, a clear majority had spoken out against supporting a lowering of EU genetic engineering standards.

Minister Özdemir: Relying only on distant technical solutions is too esoteric

At the IGW, Cem Özdemir (Greens), the Federal Minister of Agriculture, who has so far been very cautious on the issue of genetic engineering, also spoke out on the subject several times. He made it clear that genetic engineering research is not forbidden today, even if some players keep making it out to be so. With regard to promises made by the proponents of genetic engineering, Özdemir said that "even according to the greatest optimists" their results would only be ready in ten years at the earliest. In view of acute challenges such as the climate crisis, he said, relying solely on distant technical solutions would be "too esoteric".

The Traffic Light coalition disagrees on genetic engineering

In the run-up to the IGW, German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) had again clearly rejected the deregulation plans of the EU Commission. Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) and the FPD parliamentary group, on the other hand, had loudly drummed for lowering standards. Dealing with the issue will therefore continue to occupy the Traffic Light. VLOG will closely follow and accompany the development.

dpa: German Minister Özdemir and FDP on genetic engineering (in German)

Speech by Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke at the BMUV Agricultural Congress 2023 (in German)

EU Commission timetable for the first half of 2023

VLOG survey: Distinct majority opposes lowering of EU GMO standards