German GM wheat trials approved but site sabotaged

HAMBURG - German authorities said this week they have approved an
application from Swiss agribusiness group Syngenta AG to start
Germany's first trials of genetically-modified (GM) wheat.

But on Tuesday some 25 Greenpeace activists sowed organic wheat seed
on the test site, aimed at ruining trials as it will be impossible to
tell the difference between GMO and conventional wheat, said
Greenpeace spokesman Henning Strodthoff.

A spokesman for Germany's state owned Robert Koch scientific
institute, responsible for approving the safety of GM crop trials in
the country, said this week approval for trials this year on the 400
metre site had been given.

The country forbids commercial production of GM crops but permits
research plantings.

Syngenta had applied for permission for trail plantings of wheat
resistant to the fungus fusarium in the eastern state of Thuringia.
About 75 square metres would actually have had GM seeds.

"It does seem that the test area may not be usable," said Peter
Hefner, a spokesman for Syngenta in Germany. "There is a time limit to
plantings because of the wheat's biology."

"The approval process is also extremely complex and we cannot simply
ignore it to react to this changed situation." He added: "We have gone
through the approval process and answered all objections about safety.
The application was approved but trials cannot go forward because an
apparent legal act has occurred."

"This raises questions about how we can undertake scientific research
in Germany. It appears undertaking such research in Germany will be
problematic."

He said Syngenta is studying the legality of the protest and reserves
its right to take legal action.

Greenpeace's Strodthoff said the organisation did not regard its
protest as illegal.
"At the time of the planting this was just normal farmland and no
approval for GM trials had been given," he said.