(nsnbc & np) The German newspaper NEOPresse informs that the German multinational corporation BASF has stopped all projects with genetically manipulated potatoes. BASF gave gene-potatoes projects the red card after protests against the release of the genetically manipulated crop in the environment continued flaring up.
The German environmental institute, Umweltinstitut München e.V., has run a campaign in the name of German and European consumers, making it clear for BASF that “those potatoes won´t end up in our bags“.
The successful protests and the prospect of continued protests and eventual legal implications prompted BASF to sack all of its potato projects.
According to the German State TV News Program “Tagesschau”, BASF has not only withdrawn all licensing requests for Germany but for the entire European market. Effectively that means, that genetically modified potatoes have been sacked throughout the European Union.
BASF´s decision to sack its gene-potato projects indicated that global corporations like BASF and Monsanto are beginning to take notice of protests, legal cases as well as changes in law. Earlier this year Argentine passed a law according to which the burden of proof has been reversed in cases where consumers claim damages due to Monsanto´s “RoundUp”.