Genetically modified corn contaminates crops in German states

Despite a Europe-wide ban, genetically modified corn has contaminated crops in seven German states, affecting farmers with million euros of losses, reports Greenpeace.

The seeds were supplied by the firm Pioneer Hi-Bred, based in the town of Buxtehude outside Hamburg, in Lower Saxony. The state's agriculture ministry confirmed the research on Sunday.

According to Lower Saxony's environment ministry, the contaminated corn seeds, making up about 0.1% of the total seed supply, were sown over at least 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein.

"This is, to date, the largest scandal concerning genetically modified seeds in Germany," said Alexander Hissting, an agriculture expert with Greenpeace.