In April 2009 Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner had the cultivation of the genetically modified maize MON 810 in Germany banned. The maize had already been approved. She said there was justified reason to assume that it posed a danger to the environment. She called it “keine politische Entscheidung”, not a political decision, but a technical one.
Bavaria’s Minister-President Horst Seehofer said: “Neue Studien zwingen uns dazu, die offenen Fragen erst einmal zu klären.” New studies force us to clarify the open questions first. On 28 May 2009 the Higher Administrative Court in Lüneburg upheld the ban.