Apr 17, 2008 Reuters

BASF ready for lawsuit against EU on GMO potato

German chemical company BASF may take legal action against the European Commission if approval of its genetically modified (GMO) potato is not issued soon, a senior company official said on Thursday.

"We are prepared to take legal action against the Commission," said Stefan Marcinowski, a member of BASF's board of executive directors told reporters at a briefing.

Asked about a possible timeframe, he said: "Not years, we are doing the utmost to meet the next planting season."

After an inconclusive meeting this week with EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, BASF sent him an open letter -- printed across German media, the Financial Times and other newspapers on Thursday -- demanding that the Commission approve its Amflora potato "without any further delay".

If approval is given, it would be the EU's first authorization of a GMO product for cultivation in a decade. Only one GMO crop may be grown commercially in the EU, a maize made by U.S. biotech company Monsanto and approved in 1998.

"We have not been satisfied with the process of approval so we took this unusual step (of the open letter)," Marcinowski said. "The decision has been sitting for nine months on the desk of Commissioner Dimas."

"This is enough time to come to a conclusion -- our patience and willingness to collaborate have now been stretched. We do not accept having to ... wait for months and months before cultivation," he said.

Previously, BASF wanted approval by April for farmers to plant its potato for the 2008 harvest: now no longer possible.

"We have missed another year of planting, because you can't just plant potatoes at any time," Marcinowski said, adding that the optimum months for planting potatoes in Europe were February and March. Also, BASF would have to plan generation of potato tubers quite soon to act as seeds for a possible 2009 harvest.

Amflora is engineered to yield high amounts of starch, eliminating the viscous gel-like substance amylose so it contains only one starch ingredient: amylopectin.

It is not intended for human consumption but rather for industrial use; for example, in the paper industry to make glossy magazine coatings, in textiles for yarn sizing and as an additive in adhesive or sprayable concrete.

EU governments have not managed to agree on biotech foods and crops for many years and repeatedly clash on the issue. No new GMO crop has received an approval for growing since 1998.

The European Commission has authorized a series of GMO products for import since 2004, but only through a legal procedure that enables it to issue a rubberstamp approval when EU states fail to agree.

GMO cultivation is far more controversial and the EU now stands on the brink of approving BASF's potato for growing, by that same legal procedure. The problem is, the EU's environment chief, in charge of the dossier, seems unwilling to approve it.

Normally, the Commission acts fairly quickly in such cases. But the company has been waiting since July 2007, when EU ministers failed to agree either to approve or reject its application.

現在、EUで遺伝子組み換えばれいしょである”Amflora（EH92-527-１）”の販売承認の申請手続きについて、最終の段階に入っている。
　Amfloraの申請を行っているBASF社によれば、Amfloraは遺伝子組み換えによってばれいしょに20％ほど含まれているアミロースをなくしていることから、アミロペクチンのみで構成されるでん粉を製造することができ、製紙などの産業用途に好ましい性質をもつとされている。
　承認の申請内容としては、このばれいしょは食用ではなく、産業用途のみに利用されるとの制限が付けられている一方、でん粉を製造した後のパルプについては、動物の飼料として供給することが可能であること、さらに食品用にも0.9％の偶発的な混入が許されることとなっている。

Food Industry News 2008年１月29日付（"Starch-An Indispensable Food Ingredi-ent Faced With Market Challenge"）の特集記事の中の推計（Frost & Sullivan）によると、食品用途は460万トンであり、でん粉需要820万トンの56％を占める。その他、製紙業界が毎年200万トン程度の需要があることから、でん粉需要の25％程度のシェアを占めている。その他160万トン（20％弱）のうち、大半は化工でん粉製造およびアミノ酸（リジン）やビタミン類などの有機化学産品製造に利用されており、一部が医薬品、酵素、プラスチック、糊製造に利用されていると見られる。

2007/10/10
EU委員会から提示された承認申請について、食品流通及び動物衛生に関する常任委員会は賛成あるいは反対の立場を委員会に示さなかった。この申請には欧州食品安全機関より「これらの製品による人類や動物の健康、環境に対してリスクがない」という検証結果が付されている。
2007/12/18
EU委員会は農相理事会に承認申請を提出
2008/2/18
農相理事会は賛成あるいは反対のどちらの意見も表示しなかった。規定により申請はEU委員会の最終決定にゆだねられる。

環境保護団体からは、欧州食品安全機関による検討は生物多様性や生態系への影響について十分行われていない、あるいはGM作物を導入するより環境親和的な農法を導入するほうが、経済的な波及効果が大きいなどの批判もされており、引き続き反対活動が行われている。

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2008/4/17 BASF

BASF calls on EU Commissioner Dimas to approve Amflora

* Amflora is a safe and environmentally friendly product that brings advantages to Europe’s farmers and starch industry
* Approval for Amflora is further delayed in spite of a positive safety assessment
* Meeting between BASF and EU Commissioner Dimas yielded no results

BASF today published an open letter to EU Commissioner Stavros Dimas calling on him to approve the genetically optimized starch potato Amflora for commercial cultivation in Europe without any further delay. Since the vote in the Council of Agricultural Ministers in July 2007, the decision to approve Amflora has been with Commissioner Dimas.

An open letter from BASF requesting the approval of Amflora
　Amflora is safe, environmentally friendly, and brings advantages to farmers and industry in Europe!

Dear Commissioner Dimas,　

Amflora is a genetically optimised starch potato developed in Europe for use by the European starch industry. The potato produces pure amylopectin, a starch used in technical processes such as papermaking. Amflora is a renewable raw material that helps in saving energy and water.
Leading starch producers confirm that amylopectin potatoes such as Amflora are estimated to create added value of at least Euro100 million per year for the European starch industry and farmers, who now want to see it cultivated.
Genetically modified crops are already reality, being grown by 12 million farmers around the world on more than 114 million hectares, although on only 0.1 million hectares in Europe. To remain competitive on the world market, European farmers must be granted access to safe, innovative technology now!
EU experts at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have repeatedly stated that Amflora is as safe as conventional potatoes. Their conclusion is based on extensive scientific studies. All scientific evidence supports the safety of Amflora.
Amflora was submitted to the EU for approval years ago. BASF has adhered to all processes that have been agreed upon between EU countries, and has submitted all required data. We were encouraged to see that you initiated the approval process by recommending the approval of Amflora in 2006.
Now, even though all the necessary political and administrative steps have been taken, the final decision by the Commission has been pending since July 2007.
We call once again on you to follow the approval processes without any further delay and to allow Amflora to be cultivated commercially in Europe.

Yours sincerely,
Stefan Marcinowski
Board of Executive Directors



"Even though all steps in the EU approval process have been taken successfully, Mr. Dimas failed to grant approval," said Dr. Stefan Marcinowski, Member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE. "An important future technology that offers benefits to farmers and the starch industry in Europe is being blocked without any reason. Amflora is safe. This has even been confirmed repeatedly by the EFSA experts."

EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, is responsible for the scientific assessment of genetically modified crops.

BASF representatives met with Commissioner Dimas on April 15 in Brussels, but the meeting failed to produce results. Representatives from the Commission were not able to present new scientific findings that would argue against approving Amflora for commercial cultivation in Europe.

Leading starch producers recently confirmed that amylopectin potatoes like Amflora represent annual value-added of at least EUR100 million for Europe’s starch industry and farmers.

The open letter can be downloaded from
http://www.basf.com/plantscience.
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About Amflora

Amflora is a genetically optimized potato that produces pure amylopectin starch and is ideal for technical applications. Conventional potatoes produce a mixture of amylopectin and amylose starch. For many technical applications, such as in the paper, textile and adhesives industries, only amylopectin is needed; separating the two starch components is uneconomical. Amflora produces pure amylopectin starch and thus helps to safe resources, energy and costs. Moreover, paper produced with amylopectin starch has a higher gloss. Concrete and adhesives can be processed for a longer period of time.
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About BASF Plant Science

BASF Plant Science is the plant biotechnology company of BASF - The Chemical Company - and has around 700 employees. Since 1998, the company has been working on plant optimization in the following areas: a more efficient agriculture, a healthier diet and the use of plants as a renewable resource. This includes, for example, the development of agricultural crops with higher yields, oil-producing plants with a higher content of healthy omega 3 fatty acids and potatoes with an optimized starch composition for industrial purposes. To find out more about BASF Plant Science, please visit: http://www.basf.com/plantscience.

September 22 2008 Bloomberg

BASF May Abandon Genetically Modified Crops for European Market

BASF SE, the world's largest chemicals company, may abandon research into genetically modified crops for the European market should it fail to get approval for its engineered Amflora potato.

``America, with Asia, is so attractive that even if Europe doesn't work out, we will do this without Europe,'' Juergen Logemann, a vice-president at BASF's plant science division, said today at a conference in Berlin. ``Europe is not mission- critical.''

BASF, based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, in July filed a case with the European Court in Luxembourg saying the European Commission failed to act on the approval of Amflora, which is modified to produce just the starch needed in the paper and textile industries. The potato is the company's only project developed for solely European markets, and Logemann called it ``our ice-breaker in Europe.''