BASF presses officials to approve its GM potato

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

LIMBURGERHOF, Germany (AFP) — German chemical giant BASF is cranking up pressure on the European Commission to get its green light for a genetically modified potato, a world first the company has decided deserves a few pages of advertising.

It wrote an open letter to the European Union's executive branch and bought newspaper pages to present its case after a meeting with EU environment minister Stravos Dimas ended in failure last week.

BASF has grown increasingly irritated with the commission, which has not authorised genetically modified organisms (GMOs) since 1998, and is pushing hard for a patent on its potato.

"Is is safe and protects the environment," BASF board member Stefan Marcinowski claimed in a letter printed in several major German dailies on...