German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned against too much hostility toward crops containing genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) and called for an open political discussion about the risks and concerns over biotechnology.

Merkel said many millions of euros had been invested in developing such crops as the Amflora potato in the hope that field trials could be made.

“This fact cannot simply be ignored because currently sentiment is hostile,” Merkel said.

Merkel stressed the ban on the MON 810 GMO maize was an individual decision.

She said her own conservative CDU party should remain open to biotechnology which in future could become a key feature of agriculture.

Some fear that Germany’s ruling government coalition ban of GMO maize could damage the country’s reputation as a location for scientific development.

Earlier this month, German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner banned cultivation and sale of GMO maize of type MON 810 produced by U.S. seed giant Monanto.

Aigner stated she would make a new review of an application for open-air trial cultivation of the GMO potato Amflora developed by German group BASF—which is not yet involved in commercial plantings.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet