Germany approves GM trials
The German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has approved the release trial of GM wheat lines with a modified protein composition.
Several genetically modified wheat lines are currently being tested in a field trial on the site of the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Germany.
The IPK also has one of the world’s largest gene banks with well over 100,000 plant specimens stored there.
The gene bank’s role is to conserve, supply and document plant genetic resources and plays an important role in preventing gene erosion, ie. preventing cultivated plants and their wild relatives from dying out.
The bank primarily deals with agricultural crops and horticultural plants and their wild relatives, has over 3,000 different species from more than 750 botanical genera and is probably the most complex gene bank in the world.
