The week so far: 80 US seed companies affected by Starlink contamination, Monsanto withdrawing GM-contaminated GM OSR seed in Canada...
---

German State Finds GM Material in Maize Seed
Updated 4:01 PM ET April 27, 2001

HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) - German authorities said on Friday they had discovered genetically-modified maize seed mixed in with normal seeds imported from Chile and Canada.

The farm ministry in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein said the discovery had been made during a spot check and urged farmers who had bought the seeds not to sow them but return them to their dealers.

The ministry said the seeds from Chile were of a type modified to be resistant to herbicides that were not allowed to be grown for food in Europe, while those from Canada had been found to have several unspecified genetic modifications.

The ministry added that the mixing of genetically modified (GM) seeds with ordinary seeds could have been accidental, but said it could not rule out that GM maize had also been delivered to other German states.

Last year, farmers in Germany, Britain, Sweden, France and Luxembourg unknowingly grew some GM modified crops after importing seeds from Canada, prompting a Europe-wide outcry.

Responding to the scandal, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called on agro-businesses not to grow genetically modified plants until 2003 so the government could investigate their effect on the environment.
---

THE HOPE OF THE INDUSTRY IS THAT OVER TIME THE MARKET IS SO FLOODED [WITH GM] THAT THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT, YOU JUST SORT OF SURRENDER.
Don Westfall, vice-president of Promar International - big-time food industry consultants based in Washington DC - quoted in The Toronto Star, January 9, 2001, Tuesday, STARLINK FALLOUT COULD COST BILLIONS, By Stuart Laidlaw