German Call For Change In EU Gentech Laws

Major German chemical and drug groups represented in the chemical industry body, the UCI, are calling for a change in European Union legislation on genetic engineering processes and plants. The UCI says that in both biotechnology and genetic engineering German companies have fallen behind their US and Japanese counterparts because bureaucratic restrictions in Germany slow down excessively the putting into operation of new technologies.

The revision of the genetic engineering law in 1993 simplified and accelerated planning approval for new plants and processes and improved conditions in Germany; the problem now lies on the European plane. The German companies argue that the same conditions still do not apply in the EU, Japan and the USA.

Genetic engineering operations in Europe are controlled on a method-specific basis, meaning that processes which are harmless are brought under regulatory control. The law has called for speedy change in the EU directive on genetic engineering. Social acceptance of biotechnology remains a further problem in Germany because of what the law calls an "information deficit." Peter Stadler, Bayer's pharma/biotechnology division head, told a Frankfurt conference that the German problems included innovation infrastructure, the political climate, R&D policy and the skill level of the universities.