Yahoo – AFP, May 6, 2014
France definitively bans GM corn (AFP) |
A grouping
of leftist senators including members of the ruling Socialists, Greens and
Communists approved a law banning MON810, a type of GM corn produced by US firm
Monsanto, that had already been passed by the lower house of parliament,
overcoming opposition from right-wing members.
At the same
time, the Council of State rejected a request from corn producers to overturn
the ban on MON810.
The council
said the applicants from the General Association of Corn Producers (AGPM) had
failed to make the case that they faced an urgent economic crisis as a result
of the ban, pointing to the fact that only a small portion of French corn is
grown with GM seeds.
With Paris
having twice put temporary bans on GM crops -- in 2011 and 2013 -- AGPM said
Monday's verdicts were "not a surprise".
The
agriculture ministry banned MON810 -- the only insect-resistant GM corn allowed
to be grown in the European Union -- in March.
Its
authorisation is currently under review by the EU as part of a wider look at
the use of GM crops, but member states have the right to ban them regardless of
rulings from Brussels.
France is
pushing to cut Brussels out of the process entirely, with future GM
authorisations taken only at the national level.
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