01.01.1970
French Department of Gers challenges GE crop approval at EU Court of Justice
Philippe Martin, president of the General Council of Gers (France), is preparing proceedings before the EU's Court of Justice for annulment of the European Commission's decision to authorise the marketing in the Union of six varieties of GMO maize. The French Department of Gers accuses the Commission of infringing the precautionary principle and overstepping its rights by authorising substances without putting the matter to a vote by the European Parliament.
01.01.1970
French activists uproot GM vines at research centre
For the second time in less than a year, genetically modified vines being tested by the French National Institute of Agricultural Research in its Colmar centre in eastern France have been uprooted and destroyed. Now that France no longer grows or tests GM corn, which used to be a regular summer target of the Faucheurs Volontaires (voluntary reapers) movement, attention has turned to the vines. This month Faucheurs destroyed transgenic vines being tested for protection against court-noué, the fanleaf virus transmitted by earthworms. In September 2009 a single activist had cut down 70 vines at the same site.
01.01.1970
Lobbies trying to force GMOs on Europe
The lobbies are all based in Brussels, and they try to impose their aims, including GMOs, on the Commission, and also on the Parliament. That said, one senses more and more resistance within the European Parliament in relation to questions that impinge on food and health. And the last vote of the Parliament to ban cloned meat and nanoparticles is proof of this.
01.01.1970
France and Spain wary of GM crop overhaul plans of the European Commission
The EU?s executive, the European Commission, argues that giving member states the option of banning GM cultivation will remove their current opposition to approving new varieties, and plans in July to table proposals seen by Reuters. [...] ?There is no way we would swap subsidiarity for the absolute need for a tightening of the assessment criteria,? [said France?s Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo] ?No new authorisations can be approved in the current circumstances,? he added.
01.01.1970
France has no immediate comment on EU?s GM plans
France needs to study the European Commission?s plans to overhaul its policy on genetically modified crops before it can comment on the EU?s executive arm?s landmark move, a spokesman at the French farm ministry said. ?We cannot say anything at this stage. We have not seen the document yet... We need to know what is contained in this document before giving a reaction,? a spokesman said.
01.01.1970
French Ministry of Agriculture authorizes field trial with GE virus resistant vines
The French Ministry of Agriculture announced on May 18 that it would authorize a genetically modified [virus resistant] vineyard for experimentation. [...] Minister Bruno Le Maire said the vineyard would be tested in the Alsace region, in eastern of France ?for four or five years to obtain results.? As a second step to the field?testing ?there will be a new procedure to see if we can use this kind of culture. ? We should not have a past-oriented vision of agriculture.?
01.01.1970
Early warning French Professor under severe attack by agro-biotechnology lobby
Today the French Fondation Sciences Citoyennes and the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility launch a public support letter for Prof. Dr. Gilles-Eric Séralini of the University of Caen and his co-workers who came under severe attacks by representatives of the agro-biotechnology industry and aligned scientists. The letter has already been signed by more than 250 scientists from 20 countries in order to defend the principles of respectful scientific criticism and the use of pluralistic expertise on issues as sensitive, complex and potentially irreversible as the effects of released GM crops.
01.01.1970
Global summit seeks to transform agricultural research
An unprecedented mix of agriculture ministers, farmers, heads of international organisations, civil society groups, community development organisations and private sector innovators will meet in Montpellier in France from this Sunday (28 March) to discuss a new roadmap for international agricultural research. The first Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) (28?31 March), organised by the Global Forum on Agricultural Research, will aim to draw up an action plan and strategy for improving agricultural research in order to make maximum impact on development, especially of the poor.
01.01.1970
French biosafety advisors say Monsanto GE maize needs more study
More research is needed into Monsanto?s genetically modified maize MON 810, the only biotech crop commercially grown in Europe, to assess its environmental impact, a French advisory body said. The opinion given by biotech committee HCB, published on Tuesday, was requested by the French government, which last year banned cultivation of MON 810 citing environmental concerns.
01.01.1970
Three major GMOs approved for food and feed found unsafe
In what is being described as the first ever and most comprehensive study of three major GMOs about assessing the effects on mammalian health, researchers from CRIIGEN and Universities of Caen and Rouen have highlighted a number of new sex and often dose dependent side effects linked with their consumption. Their study of the 90-day feeding trials data of insecticide producing Mon 810, Mon 863 and Roundup herbicide absorbing NK 603 varieties of GM maize clearly underlines adverse impacts on kidneys and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, as well as different levels of damages to heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system.
01.01.1970
France?s High Biotech Council defines biotech-free production
The report [of the French High Biotech Council] includes recommendations to label products with ?GMO-free? when containing less than 0.1 percent transgenic DNA for plant products, and for animal products derived from animals fed on less than 0.1 percent biotech feed. Based on this recommendation, the French government will prepare a decree to regulate ?GMO-free? labeling in 2010, subject to public comment.
01.01.1970
France prepares voluntary ?GMO-free? labels
France is set to create a set of voluntary ?GMO-free? labelling schemes to help conventional agricultural producers to distinguish their produce in the market, it emerged this week. An opinion was submitted to the French government this week by the country?s new High Council for Biotechnology, arguing for labelling standards which go beyond the EU framework and allow crop and livestock producers to cover the high costs of remaining ?GMO-free?.
01.01.1970
GMO corn: France rejects report by EU food agency
France on Friday rejected a report by the European Union?s food safety watchdog that said a controversial strain of genetically-modified corn was safe. In a joint statement, the French ecology and agriculture ministries said the Italy-based European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) had failed to take into account requests to change the way it evaluated the risk. ?The conclusions of the council of European environment ministers must be respected,? the statement said, referring to a December 4, 2008 decision, approved unanimously, that had called on the agency to overhaul its assessment methods.
01.01.1970
Fed with ?No GMO? label taken on by France
The French National Consumers Council has taken on a label signifying that meat and dairy products have come from animals that have not been fed genetically modified feed, reports state. Further reports state that the label ?Nourri sans OGM? - ?Fed without GMOs? - was adopted following a meeting at the Ministry for Finances which included representatives of ?Que choisir? [?What to choose??] and the food industry.
01.01.1970
Location of GE crop trials must be released to public, European Court says
The EU?s highest legal body, the European Court of Justice, has ruled that the public must have access to information about location of genetically modified crops. It?s the latest decision on a very controversial issue. [...] ?The right of public access to information applies to releases of genetically modified organisms,? the ECJ said in its decision. ?The information relating to the location of the release can in no case be kept confidential.?
01.01.1970
EU foiled in bid to force France, Greece to allow GM crop
The European Commission was foiled Monday in its bid to force France and Greece to allow genetically modified maize from US biotech giant Monsanto to be grown in their fields. Food chain experts from the EU member states, meeting in Brussels, could not reach agreement on whether to back or oppose the French and Greek refusal to allow the maize, which has been given the green light to be grown in Europe. The standing committee on food chain and animal health ?failed to reach a qualified majority in favour or against,? the commission said in a statement.
01.01.1970
France defends GM ban after report says safe in food
A report by the French food safety agency that says genetically modified maize is safe for humans does not call France?s ban on the crop into question, Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said on Thursday. Borloo?s statement came in response to an article in the Le Figaro daily, which said the agency, Afssa, did not see any health risks to the insect-resistant MON 810 maize developed by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto.
01.01.1970
Different Roundup formulations lead to embryonic, umbilical cord and placental cell death
For the first time, the toxicity mechanisms of four different Roundup formulations were studied in human cells. They act at doses where they are not herbicides anymore. The cells were neonatal cells freshly isolated from the umbilical cord, or less sensitive cell lines specially used to measure pollutant toxicity. The various components of these major herbicides were tested because they are among the most common in the world. Their residues are among the major pollutants, and moreover they are authorized as residues contaminating GM foods and feed at the tested levels.
01.01.1970
EU?s top court fines France for incomplete GMO law
The European Union?s highest court fined France 10 million euros ($12.9 million) on Tuesday for failing to update the country?s laws on genetically modified (GM) crops and foods. In a statement, the European Court of Justice said the ?unlawful conduct repeatedly engaged in by France in the GMOs sector is of such a nature as to require the adoption of a dissuasive measure, such as a lump sum payment?.
01.01.1970
France hopes to break GMO deadlock by December
EU envrionment ministers continued to disagree on whether member states should be allowed to establish GMO-free zones for sensitive areas, although they did concur on the need for better long-term environmental risk assessment of GMOs. Following a number of informal discussions earlier this summer, the EU-27 environment ministers debated the bloc?s GMO authorisation procedure in a Council meeting on 20 October. But member states clashed on the issues of protecting sensitive and protected territories and establishing GMO-free zones.
01.01.1970
University of Paris-South (France) makes a commitment to support GE critic Christian Vélot
On July 9, 2008, the biologist and whistle blower Christian Vélot met the Presidency of the University Paris-South (Orsay). [...] The results are a willingness to listen and certain commitments. [...] The affair has involved two years of administrative hardship and stormy relations with the University hierarchy, 50,000 signatures of support, the support of several hundred people at the Orsay University itself and at the Ministry of Education and Research, and finally, a victory.
01.01.1970
No revamp of EU rules on GMO crops: ministerial meeting
A review of the European Union?s procedures for vetting genetically modified crops does not imply the policy will undergo far-reaching change, a French environment minister said Friday. ?We are not fundamentally questioning the European system, or looking to overhaul procedure,? said Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, secretary of state for ecology, at an informal meeting of the EU?s 27 environment and energy ministers outside Paris. [...] ?There remain doubts, about an insufficient number of evaluation and long-term impacts, and a need for more transparency,? she told journalists during a break in the meetings.
01.01.1970
French constitutional court upholds GMO law
France?s constitutional council approved the main points of a law on genetically modified crops on Thursday after opposition Socialists had demanded a review. The Socialists and environmentalists said the bill blurred the line between natural and genetically modified organisms (GMO) but the constitutional council ruled that it conformed with the constitution. ?The law, which provides for a preliminary system of authorisation for GMOs and makes their cultivation subject to evaluation, surveillance and control procedures does not fail to respect the principle of precaution when it allows coexistence of GMO and non-GMO crops,? it said in a statement.
01.01.1970
Ten years of Bt maize cultivation: Horizontal gene transfer of no significance
Scientists from France and Switzerland have been studying soil bacteria from a field where genetically modified Bt maize has been growing for 10 years. They wanted to find out whether controversial antibiotic-resistance genes can in fact transfer from transgenic plants to bacteria, as is widely feared. They have concluded that transgenic plants play no part in the spread of antibiotic resistances.
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