Klaus-Dieter Jany / Eberhard HöferDie deutsche Imkerschaft und Grüne Gentechnik

About this book deutschenglish

Genetic engineering - an emotive issue in Germany. Only, few topics in the agriculture and food sector are so emotional and controversial discussed as modern plant biotechnology; the cultivation of genetically modified plants and their use as food or feed. Wide circles of society are skeptically or stand fundamentally in opposite to applications of this technology. The reasons are manifold: ethical concerns, unforeseen risks to human and environment, threat of natural and organic farming and fears of economic loss. Parts of the beekeepers see in modern plant biotechnology a sustainable threat to their existence, and fear that by the entry of pollen derived from genetically modified plants in honey reduces the acceptance of German honey among consumers and Bt toxins affect the health of bees. The book presents a chronological overview of the fight and measures by beekeepers to enforce a ban on the cultivation of GM plants in Germany and a legal anchorage of a compensation for economic losses caused by GM pollen in honey. The development of a simple compensation process to transition to European Court of Justice (ECJ) is shown und critical discussed. The ECJ judgment led to a revision of the EU-Honey Directive. As beekeepers did not feel adequately protected by the state, they carried out destruction of fields with GM crops as a means of civil disobedience. In the end, neither the processes nor the field destructions led to a ban of modern plant biotechnology or to a compensation claim or to a labeling of honey with traces of GM pollen.

In the second part, the scientific literature was analyzed to the impact of Bt toxins and Bt pollen on bee health. From the numerous investigations and the obtained results, no negative effect of Bt toxins on the health of bees or a promotion of the observed world-wide bee mortality can be derived.

about the author:

The author Jany 2012 was awarded with the “black brush” by the Deutschen Berufs und Erwebsimkerbund for his scientific / legal explanations on Bt pollen in honey.