a potential threat to the environment. A
small group of students started to criti-
cally overview the foundation of the
research in my Univerity’s Genetics
Institute, and I joined their discussion
in my free time. At that time there was
a strict distinction between molecular
biology and ecological sciences. I basi-
cally expanded my masters and PhD
time (1986–1990) in the field of eco-
physiology on the scientific question:
Is soil iron availability the driving
force for vegetation differentiation into
calcifuge and calcicole ecotypes? My
answer was: probably yes, but there are
more multiple cause–effect relation-
ships. This draws my attention to a per-
sonal experience: I am sure that to a
large extent in public perception “the
example seems to be everything”in
ecology. That’s probably the reason
why one can find for every real or fic-
tional environmental concern support
by some ecological data. It is still the
great challenge in ecological sciences
to find generalizations and rules, which
is difficult as there are so many influen-
cing factors.
Anyhow, I continued to be (politically)
interested in the environmental conse-
quences of genetically modified organ-
isms (GMOs). It was a lucky random
event that paved my way towards environ-
mental biosafety research: I went in the
middle of my PhD work in 1988 for a
six week internship to the German
Parliament where I accompanied a par-
liamentarian engaged in environmental
politics. One small task I got was to eva-
luate a new draft legislative act on
GMOs. I made a phone call to the
leading German environmental expert
in the National GMO Biosafety
Committee: Prof. Herbert Sukopp, who
was an expert in exotic plant species
ecology. A 20 minute chat with him
resulted in my being offered a postdoc
position in his lab at the Berlin
Technical University two years later, in- My task was to organize a confer-
ence and ecology expert database for the
interdisciplinary assessment of GMOs.
During the next 15 month I gained
experience and made the right contacts
to become involved in the first biosafety
research projects with sugar beet in
cooperation with plant breeding industry
in field experiments starting in 1993.
This was the first time that a GM crop
was released into the environment in
Germany, and I was the first ecologist
to study competitiveness and GMO
out-pollination with wild-type plant rela-
tives. My next 10 years were characterized
by intensive experimental studies, teach-
ing and field trips with students, and
highly polarized public discussions with
concerned citizens.In a world of simply black-and-white
views, I suddenly was pushed to the
“pro-GMO” side as some people were
not able to see why it was important to
collect scientific data that enables
science-based decisions. What a
change! I became the opposed official
expert myself who is mistrusted by
gut-feeling driven opponents of a new
technology. This was one of the most
pervasive experiences in my life. It was
now my problem to tell people that the
truth in the GMO world is colorful and
not a black-and-white story. Anyhow, I
tried my best both in communicating
my research as well as improving my
scientific knowledge. A great time in
this respect was my sabbatical study on
the origin of Californian wild sea beet
(Beta vulgaris ssp.maritima) in the
lab of Prof. Norm Ellstrand at UC
Riverside in1998.Back in Germany, the environmental
impact of Bt corn became a new object
of interest. I spent three more fruitful
years with my scientific mentor Prof.
Ingolf Schuphan at the Aachen
University of Technology. The German
university system has a narrow window
of opportunity to obtain a professorship.
Even though I was near the final cut,
I had no luck in the end to get a full
professorship position.322 FIELD TESTING OF TRANSGENIC PLANTS