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At a high level organic conference in Brussels GMOs were the most important point of dissent between organic farmers and the European Commission. Whilst the organic representatives from practically every EU country and adjacent states like Croatia and White Russia demanded zero tolerance for GMO contamination, representatives of the Commission advocated a general allowance of 0,9%.

France formally suspended on Thursday the commercial use of genetically modified (GMO) seeds in the country until early February and ordered a biotech safety study. The future of GMOs has long been the subject of heated debate in France -- Europe’s top grain producer -- and the country’s reluctance to use GMO crops compares starkly with the United States, which is far more tolerant of the technology.

A proposal that Europe’s top environment official made last month to ban the planting of a genetically modified corn strain across the bloc sets the stage for a bitter war within European Union, where politicians have done their best to dance around the issue.

A temporary sales ban on GMO-giant Monsanto’s genetically modified MON810 maize was lifted after the company agreed to extra crop monitoring in Germany, German authorities anounced. Germany had in May this year imposed a temporary ban on commercial sales of MON810 citing concerns about safety of the maize.

Poland continues to defy the European Commission’s law on genetically modified products by banning the entry of GMO goods into the country. It has only 20 days to respond to EC’s accusation that the country’s laws violate EC regulations. The continued ban may result in fines of as much as $381,407 (260,000 euro) a day. A ruling by the EU court that Poland violated the law will also expose Warsaw to lawsuits GMO trading firms may file against the Polish government.

STATE Labor MPs have expressed ”grave fears” that lifting the Brumby Government’s controversial ban on genetically modified crops would harm the environment and economy, as well as damage the state’s green image. Newly elected MP Martin Foley has joined four caucus colleagues from across Labor’s factions in calling for the ban on genetically modified canola crops to remain. The group have all written to a scientific panel chaired by Sir Gustav Nossal, which has handed its report on the economic impact of removing the ban to Premier John Brumby.

THE SCOTTISH government will this week make an unprecedented intervention in Brussels to try to help ban genetically modified (GM) crops throughout Europe. The environment minister, Michael Russell, is planning to back a controversial bid by the European environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas, to block applications by three multinational companies to grow GM maize.

Germany’s agriculture minister urged the European Union on Monday to suspend its approval procedure for new biotech crops and seeds, demanding governments undertake a wide-scale review of how genetically modified products can be used in Europe. ”This (system) should be stopped and we should check: can the procedures stay as they are,” Horst Seehofer said before EU farm ministers talks. He said that the current system, which has been criticized by several EU nations, is ”highly unsatisfactory.”

The European Union has won an extension until until Jan. 11 to comply with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling from last November. The case which pitted the EU against the United States and other GM crop producing countries over its bans on GMO imports found some national bans as well as a general moratorium on GM approvals illegal under WTO rules.

European Union environment officials have determined that two kinds of genetically modified corn could harm butterflies, modify food chains and disturb life in rivers and streams, and they have proposed a ban on the sale of the seeds, which are made by Pioneer Hi-Bred, Dow Agrosciences and Syngenta. The preliminary decisions, seen by the International Herald Tribune, are circulating within the European Commission, the EU executive, which has the final say. Some officials there are skeptical about a ban that would upset the powerful biotechnology industry and could exacerbate tensions with important EU trading partners like the United States.