This article is part of the series Implications for GMO-cultivation and monitoring.

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The booklet "Genetically modified crops" published from the German Research Foundation, does not meet the given claim

Friedhelm Taube1*, Michael Krawinkel2, Andreas Susenbeth3 and Werner Theobald4

Author Affiliations

1 Institut für Pflanzenbau und Pflanzenzüchtung Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel Olshausenstr. 40 D-24098 Kiel, Germany

2 Institut für Ernährungswissenschaften - Ernährung in Entwicklungsländern Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany

3 Institut für Tierernährung und Stoffwechselphysiologie Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel Olshausenstr. 40 D-24098 Kiel, Germany

4 Zentrum für Ethik Ethik in den Lebenswissenschaften Institut für Pflanzenbau und Pflanzenzüchtung Grünland und Futterbau/Ökologischer Landbau Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel Hermann-Rodewald-Str. 9 D 24118 Kiel, Germany

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Environmental Sciences Europe 2011, 23:1  doi:10.1186/2190-4715-23-1


The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.enveurope.com/content/23/1/1


Received:25 January 2011
Accepted:2 February 2011
Published:2 February 2011

© 2011 Taube et al; licensee Springer.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

In December 2009 the German Research Foundation published the booklet "Grüne Gentechnik" (Genetically modified crops) claiming to give a scientifically well balanced information about GMO's in agriculture. In this paper we analyse this approach resulting in a critical review regarding the intention of the booklet. We conclude that the evaluation of GMO's in agriculture primarily from a crop breeding perspective is lacking crucial positions in terms of ecology, socio-economy, agronomy, nutritional sciences and finally ethics in life science.

Keywords:
Agriculture; Agro-biodiversity; Biodiversity; Bt-maize; Codes of good agricultural practise; Coexistence; Ecosystem services; Environmental protection; Food security; Gene technology; Genetically modified crops; Glyphosate; Herbicide tolerance; Land use; Maize; Sustainability

Discussion