According to a report from the British news agency Reuters, France has once again moved to ban genetically modified corn within its borders after a previous ban was overturned by the country’s highest administrative court.
The move is intended to prevent plantings of GMO corn/maize this spring within the country, which has a large and vocal counter-movement against the highly controversial and unnatural GMO crops.
The latest proposal was submitted by a senator of the ruling Social Party on Tuesday and would apply to any strain of genetically modified maize whether from Monsanto, Dow, DuPont or any other biotech company attempting to get their products approved.
The previous ban enacted by the administrative court only covers Monsanto’s MON 810, which is the only GMO crop currently allowed to be grown in the European Union according to the Reuters article.
One particular variety, the insect-resistant Pioneer 1507 developed by DuPont and Dow, is currently up for approval by the EU.
The Reuters article also noted that the Senate could vote on the new GMO ban as early as February 17 before it would then be passed to the lower house.
France’s movement for freedom from GMOs has grown and remained strong due to the desire to prevent cross-contamination, which would hurt the country’s purity standards and standing among neighboring countries that demand GMO-free food imports, and due to the results of a study conducted by French scientist Giles-Eric Seralini, which showed massive tumors in rats after the standard 90-day experimental GMO feeding period was extended.
The study was retracted by the journal ‘Food and Toxicology,’ but many have accused the journal of double standards considering that similar protocols for experiment setup have been used for biotech industry studies; that a former Monsanto researcher, Richard Goodman, became a member of the editorial board of Food and Chemical Toxicology, and also that several other editorial board members have links to the GMO/biotech industry.
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