FRANCE SAYS TO EXTEND GMO BAN UNLESS PROVEN SAFE
12.21.07 - Leído 88 veces. Enviar esta notaSybille de La Hamaide
France will extend its ban on the use and sale of the only genetically modified crop grown in the country unless a newly set-up committee on GMOs can prove it is safe, senior government officials said on Thursday
PARIS, France; December 21, 2007.- France said this month it was suspending the commercial use of maize seeds using MON 810 technology developed by US biotech giant Monsanto until Feb. 9. This would give it time to look into the environmental and health implications of its use.
Concrete results, expected ahead of schedule, on Jan. 11 would shape government decisions on the use of MON 810, French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo told a news conference.
If doubts over safety lingered, France would extend its ban by using the so-called safeguard clause which allows European Union members to refrain from applying EU laws on the basis they may put the local population at risk, government officials said.
But if the findings proved extremely positive, France would once again allow farmers to cultivate MON 810 maize, which has been cleared for use by the EU, they said.
“The decree to suspend (GMO use) will shift to a safeguard clause if opinion reflects reservations,” said Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, the secretary of state for ecology.
“Otherwise, the decree will be lifted if opinion proves extremely positive in favour of the (MON) 810.”
Germany lifted its own ban on use of the MON 810 technology on the day France announced its suspension. Germany’s move came after Monsanto agreed to additional monitoring of its use.
Just 22,000 hectares — or 1.5 percent of France’s cultivated land — was sown with Monsanto GMO maize last year. Some farmers have urged greater use of GMOs to boost yields.
Borloo said a new law outlining a framework for GMO use in France would be submitted to parliament in early 2008, when a High Authority overseeing GMOs would also be set up.
The proposed law, adopted by French ministers on Wednesday, requires farmers growing GMO crops to take steps to avoid the dissemination of GMO seeds in the wider environment.
Farmers will also need to take out insurance to compensate for any financial losses linked to traces of GMOs in another farmer’s field, according to the proposed legislation.
Anti-GMO lobby groups in France have decried the proposed law, saying it effectively legalises the dissemination of GMOs.
Radical French farmer, Jose Bove, who made global headlines for his campaign against junk food, said last week that he would stage a hunger strike to try and secure a one-year ban on GMOs.
(Reuters)
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