Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Austria To Ban Cultivation Of Modified Potatoes

VIENNA (AFP)--Austria said Tuesday it planned to ban the cultivation of genetically-modified potatoes after it was approved by the European Commission in Brussels.

"Minister Alois Stoeger is preparing a document banning the cultivation of genetically-modified potatoes," a health ministry spokeswoman told AFP.

The minister was going to "immediately issue a national cultivation ban," according to the ministry.

The commission approved Tuesday the cultivation of genetically-modified potatoes--the first approval of GM foods for 12 years--as environmentalists and some European ministers slammed the "frankenfoods" as a threat to human health.

Austria already introduced a safeguard clause in 1999 banning the import of two types of genetically-modified maize, also approved by the commission:Monsanto's MON810 maize and Bayer's T25.

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