German chem group VCI urges changes to gene technology law

25 November 2010 16:05  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS)--Germany’s chemical industry is urging lawmakers to change the country’s strict law on gene technology, trade group VCI said on Thursday.

The group called, in particular, for changes to the law’s public registry, which discloses the location of sites where farmers or companies employ gene technology.

The call came as Germany’s constitutional court this week upheld the current law, including the registry, against a challenge from the Saxony-Anhalt state.

BASF board member Stefan Marcinowski, who heads VCI’s biotechnology industry arm, said the public registry was “problematic”, given that in the past activists had attacked and destroyed such gene technology sites.

Such activism had been increasing in past years, casting doubt on Germany’s investment climate, Marcinowski said.

The fact the court had upheld the constitutionality of the current law did not rule out amendments or changes, he added.

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By: Stefan Baumgarten
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