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The environment ministry has prepared a new bill on GMO, which does not include a formal ban on the cultivation of transgenic plants, but provides tools which allow to practically exclude GMOs. Former environment minister professor Jan Szyszko said that the bill practically allows regions of Poland to remain GMO-free zones. Poland is seen as an ecologically clear country in the European Union, which produces more food than is needed in the country, but is restricted by EU quota.

Griechenland ist eines der Länder, wo der gentechnisch veränderte Mais der Linie MON 810, der in diesen Tag in Deutschland ausgebracht wird, verboten ist. Und das wird auch in den nächsten 2 Jahren so bleiben. Letzte Woche wurde das griechische Verbot verlängert und auf 70 Mais-Sorten ausgeweitet. Der griechische Agrarminister Alexandros Kondos begründete das Verbot mit möglichen gesundheitlichen Risiken sowie mit der Bedrohung für die Imkerei. In Griechenland werden ca. 16% des europäischen Honigs hergestellt.

The European Commission may again put off a decision on whether farmers can grow more genetically modified crops when it holds a long-awaited biotech policy debate in May, officials said on Monday. After months of expectation, the Commission has finally set May 7 for debating its biotech policy, centered around what has been called the ”Dimas package”: EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, one of the most GMO-wary commissioners. Cultivation of GM crops is expected to be at the top of the agenda, with three applications long overdue for consideration, one lawsuit filed against the Commission and another threatened.

Greenpeace welcomes the Romanian Government’s landmark decision to ban genetically engineered (GE) maize, announced today. The move is particularly significant as GE maize is the only commercially cultivated GE crop permitted in Europe. Mr Attila Korodi’s, Minister of Environment and Durable Development, announcement banning Monsanto’s GE maize MON 810, makes Europe’s largest per hectare maize producer GE-free. Romania is the seventh of Europe’s leading maize producers to ban the growing of GE varieties, following France, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Greece and Poland.

Soybean production in the 2007/08 crop is estimated at 62.416 million tonnes (t.). [...] The result showed that 59.1% of the analyzed crops used transgenic crops. The South region topped the ranking with 82.1% of the crops planted with genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

U.S. biotech company Monsanto said on Thursday France’s decision to ban one of its genetically modified varieties of maize was illegal and would be harmful to the sector. [...] Monsanto said the committee had not turned up any scientific proof which had not already been reviewed by the EU, which had authorized use of MON 810 throughout the 27-nation bloc in 1998. ”There is no doubt that the (committee’s) opinion does not fulfill any of the criteria which would allow ... the French state to suspend the application of a legal authorization based on a rational and scientific evaluation,” Monsanto said.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is working with member states to update risk assessment guidance for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to bring it in line with scientific progress and provide more in-depth advice. More than 60 GMO experts from national regulatory risk assessment bodies came together in November to discuss the best scientific approaches for evaluating the safety of GMOs at national and European level. Today the findings from the meeting, including the fact that differences exist among member states with respect to the practical organisation of GMO risk assessment will be presented to an Advisory Forum.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday announced a ban on Monsanto's MON 810 GM maize in France, the only GM maize variety presently legal to grow within the European Union. Farm activist José Bove publicly finished his hunger strike against the crop while Monsanto and the large farmers association complained.

French activist and head of the farmers union Confederation Paysanne José Bove started a hunger strike demanding a moratorium on GMO cultivation in France.

France will extend its ban on the use and sale of gm maize MON 810, the only genetically modified crop grown in the country, unless a newly set-up committee on GMOs can prove it is safe. A present ban expires in February.