France bans GM crops before evaluation
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said France would not plant pest-resistant GM crops in France until further studies were carried out.
Speaking at a national conference on the environment,
Sarkozy said no GMO crops would be planted in France until the government had
received the results of an evaluation by a new authority on GMOs set to be
launched later this year.
Sarkozy said no GMO crops would be planted in France until the government had
received the results of an evaluation by a new authority on GMOs set to be
launched later this year.
“I don’t want to be in contradiction with EU
laws, but I have to make a choice. In line of the precautionary principle, I
wish that the commercial cultivation of genetically modified pesticide GMOs be
suspended,” he said.
The EU has approved cultivation of
a GM variety of maize (the so-called MON 810) developed by the US biotech firm
Monsanto
, but it has
restricted other GM seeds and foods, in contrast with the US.
