78 percent of Germans say humans have ‘no right’ to genetically engineer plants and animals, government study shows

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Image Credit: Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch

79 percent of Germans agree that genetic engineering should be banned in agriculture, according to a 2017 study by the Federal Ministry for the Environment.

Support for a ban on genetically modified organisms has been relatively stable at a high level for years, the study shows, which was conducted previously in 2009, 2013 and 2015. The answers of the 2000 consumers surveyed highlight two reasons for the desired ban on agricultural biotechnology: two-thirds of consumers do not want to eat genetically modified food. 78 percent of those surveyed said they believe “[h]umans have no right to genetically modify plants and animals.”

In her statement on the presentation of the study, Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said she took citizens’ concerns about genetic engineering very seriously: “We finally need uniform regulations nationwide in order to ban the cultivation of genetically engineered plants.”

According to Bundestag member Harald Ebner, a long-time critic of biotechnology,

Genetic engineering, be it ‘old’ or new methods like CRISPR, should at least be regulated, thoroughly tested and clearly marked, so that you can decide for yourself. The federal government must make it clear that new genetic engineering is genetic engineering…

Editor’s note: This article and the study it reports were originally published in German. This English summary has been prepared with Google Translate and lightly edited for clarity.

Read full, original article: Unchanged: Four-fifths of Germans reject agro-engineering

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