May 7, 2014
France imposes absolute ban on genetically modified corn
France definitively banned the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) corn after its highest court and senate both confirmed an existing ban on May 2.
The law banning MON810, a type of GM cornproduced by US firm Monsanto, had already been approved by a grouping of leftist senators including members of the ruling Socialists, Greens and Communists and had already been passed by the lower house of parliament,despite opposition from right-wing members.
The Council of State rejected a request from corn producers to overturn the ban on MON810 on grounds that 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 EU 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,makingfuture GM authorisationspossible at the national level.