BIOTECHNOLOGY, PROPERTY RIGHTS ANDTHEENVIRONMENT BIOTECHNOLOG Y PROPERTY RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT TOWARDS A NEW LEGAL ORDER? Gerard M F Snijders II D Differences of opinion will be the final blow for Avebe transgenic potato, so reads the heading of a detailed background article in the Agrarisch Dagblad of Saturday 4 August 2001. This article describes the demise, after ten years, of a project by the Avebe potato group which aimed to achieve large-scale cultivation of a potato developed in 1989 as the result of genetic modification. This potato no longer conta ined amylose starch, only amy lose pectin starch. This was to simplify the processing of the potato considerably, resulting in a substantal reduction of costs Init ally cultivation was perm itted-after just a few years about 200 Dutch farmers were growing a total of some 1200 hectares a year- but, after the scientific committee of the European Union had called the safety of the potato into question in 1998, cultivation of the potato was banned in the year 2000. There was the fear that because of the genetic modification used, the potato, once released into the environment, could lead to resistance to kanamycine, an essential antibiotic in the health care industry, and the chemical amy kacie derived from it. Both these products play an important role, particularly in the treatment of serious pulmonary disorders and blood poisoning. There is considerable debate among scientists about the legitimacy of this fear. Stopping the project resulted in(direct) loss to Avebe of more than 8.000. 000 Euro. The med a often on problems to do with genetic modification. In the Agrarisch Dagblad of 26 June 2001, for instance, we can read that the Dutch action group De Razende had destroyed two experimental plots growing genetically modified sugar beet. It concerned the variety Roundup-Ready, cultivated a field trial by the multinational Monsanto. On 29 June 2001, the magazine Oogst, the mouthpiece of the Confederation of Agriculture and Horticulture LTO-Nederland, reported that the Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment had rejected all 2 1 Dutch requests for field trials with genetically modified crops, since the plots of and on which the trials were to take plce had not been sufficiently identified. The industries concemed considered appea ling against the decision in court. They objected to giving precise details of the plots of and where the field trials were to take place, fearing that this would lead to the destruction of the cultivated Genetic modif ication arouses strong emotions, but also leads to measures in the fom of legislation. This legislation may concen food safety, the la belling of roducts produced with the aid of genetic modification, the protection of the environment in general, and private property in particular This report takes the protection of the environment as the central theme. It contains a summary of prevailing Dutch law in this area, whereby a dist inction is made between public and private law. Public law contains regulations for the University of Nijmegen, Attomey at Wijn Stael, Utrecht.BIOTECHNOLOGY, PROPERTY RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT BIOTECHNOLOGY, PROPERTY RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT: TOWARDS A NEW LEGAL ORDER? Gerard M.F. Snijders* II D 1 Introduction Differences of opinion will be the final blow for Avebe transgenic potato , so reads the heading of a detailed background article in the Agrarisch Dagblad of Saturday 4 August 2001. This article describes the demise, after ten years, of a project by the Avebe potato group which aimed to achieve large-scale cultivation of a potato developed in 1989 as the result of genetic modification. This potato no longer contained amylose starch, only amylose pectin starch. This was to simplify the processing of the potato considerably, resulting in a substantial reduction of costs. Initially cultivation was permitted - after just a few years about 200 Dutch farmers were growing a total of some 1200 hectares a year - but, after the scientific committee of the European Union had called the safety of the potato into question in 1998, cultivation of the potato was banned in the year 2000. There was the fear that because of the genetic modification used, the potato, once released into the environment, could lead to resistance to kanamycine, an essential antibiotic in the health care industry, and the chemical amykacine derived from it. Both these products play an important role, particularly in the treatment of serious pulmonary disorders and blood poisoning. There is considerable debate among scientists about the legitimacy of this fear. Stopping the project resulted in (direct) loss to Avebe of more than 8,000,000 Euro. The media often report on problems to do with genetic modification. In the Agrarisch Dagblad of 26 June 2001, for instance, we can read that the Dutch action group De Razende Hazen had destroyed two experimental plots growing genetically modified sugar beet. It concerned the variety Roundup-Ready, cultivated in a field trial by the multinational Monsanto. On 29 June 2001, the magazine Oogst, the mouthpiece of the Confederation of Agriculture and Horticulture LTO-Nederland, reported that the Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment had rejected all 21 Dutch requests for field trials with genetically modified crops, since the plots of land on which the trials were to take place had not been sufficiently identified. The industries concerned considered appealing against the decision in court. They objected to giving precise details of the plots of land where the field trials were to take place, fearing that this would lead to the destruction of the cultivated crops. Genetic modification arouses strong emotions, but also leads to measures in the form of legislation. This legislation may concern food safety, the labelling of products produced with the aid of genetic modification, the protection of the environment in general, and private property in particular. This report takes the protection of the environment as the central theme. It contains a summary of prevailing Dutch law in this area, whereby a distinction is made between public and private law. Public law contains regulations for the * University of Nijmegen, Attorney at Wijn & Stael, Utrecht