1.Bravo the French UK should support French call to ban GM maize
2.Study questions safety of GM corn as France seeks EU ban

EXTRACT: "GM is an outdated technology, and it is draining research time and money away from more promising technologies. We encourage other EU member states to support the French in their bid to stop the GM experiment in Europe" – Wenonah Hauter (item 2)
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1.Bravo the French UK should support French call to ban GM maize
GM Freeze, 27 Feb 2012
http://www.gmfreeze.org/news-releases/181/

GM Freeze has today written to Defra urging the UK to support the new French demand for Monsanto’s MON810 GM maize to be banned in the EU. [1] The Ministry of Ecology made a formal request last week asking the Commission to suspend the authorisation to grow the crop across the EU citing damage to the environment demonstrated by new scientific research, including from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).    

The French move is the latest in their long struggle to prohibit the cultivation of the crop, which included an European Court of Justice ruling that a previous ban was not properly enacted, which itself led to French courts overturning that ban. [2]

Monsanto has since withdrawn MON810 seed from sale in France, but French authorities are keen to ensure no planting occurs from seed acquired from other sources. [3]

Commenting Pete Riley, Campaign Director of GM Freeze, said:

"The French have it absolutely right the EU should ban cultivation of Monsanto's MON810 GM maize, both to protect the environment and because consumers don't want it. Monsanto aren't even trying to sell it in France anymore, so it is extraordinary the Government has to go to these lengths to prevent damage to the environment.

"GM Freeze strongly urges the UK Government to follow the growing scientific evidence that GM cultivation is too risky and support the French call for a ban."

Notes

[1] Copy of letter to Defra available from GM Freeze.

Reuters, 20 February 2012. "France asks EU to suspend Monsanto GM corn approval"
http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFP6E8CT01H20120220
and
Farming Online, 21 February 2012. "France lobbies EU to ban GM maize"
http://www.farming.co.uk/news/article/6124

[2] GM Freeze press release, 17 January 2012. "France Determined to Continue GM Maize Ban”
http://www.gmfreeze.org/news-releases/177/

[3] GM Freeze press release, 25 January 2012. "Monsanto Bow to French Ban on GM Maize Seed in 2012"
http://www.gmfreeze.org/news-releases/178/
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2.Study questions safety of GM corn as France seeks EU ban
EurActiv, 24 February 2012
http://www.euractiv.com/cap/study-questions-safety-gm-corn-france-seeks-eu-ban-news-511102

Insecticides present in one of Europe’s most controversial genetically modified crops, MON810 maize, may be harmful to humans, French and German researchers say in a new study that could pour fuel over calls asking to limit such plants in the EU.

The study comes as France’s environment and agricultural ministers this week urged the European Commission to seek an EU-wide ban on the cultivation of MON810, EurActiv.fr reported. The maize is outlawed in Austria, Germany, Greece, Hungary and Luxembourg, while France is threatening to re-impose its own ban that was struck down in court if the EU does not act.

Christoph Then, who heads the Testbiotech research firm in Munich, said there is evidence that MON810 produces a toxin that can be harmful to humans through soil, water or animal feed contamination.

The Testbiotech's study, in conjunction with research done at the University of Caen, shows that insecticides present in genetically engineered maize and similar crops pose a potential risk to humans. The study was released on 17 February.

Although the results are not conclusive and are based on review of high concentrations of toxins, the German-French team of researchers said the finding was a "surprising outcome and this risk was somehow overlooked" in past assessments of biotech crops.

"We don't know yet the final impact for the human consumer is, it’s too early to say that," Then said in a telephone interview. "We are very cautious about saying we have proof that the consumer risk is high, that it needs more assessments."

Monsanto last month announced it would scrap plans to sell the maize in France despite a French court ruling in November that overturned a 2008 government ban on the sale of MON810.

'Safe as its conventional counterpart'

The US-based seed and herbicide company has long maintained that MON810 and other genetically modified crops are safe and more environmentally friendly because they produce higher yields, require fewer pesticides and need less water than conventional seeds.

The European Food Safety Authority in 2009 issued an assessment showing that "maize MON810 is as safe as its conventional counterpart with respect to potential effects on human and animal health" and is unlikely to have "any adverse effect on the environment." A 2004 study by the Parma, Italy-based EU agency reached similar conclusions.

However, the accuracy of EFSA reports on GM crops have been criticised by MEPs, national governments and researchers including Then's Testbiotech for allegedly relying too heavily on industry-based information and research.

Acknowledging that there are divergent views on GM safety, Then called for additional independent research on the use of the Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, toxin that is used in GM crops like MON810 to strengthen their resistance to insects.
Positions: 

"Twenty-fives years of research by independent and public scientists have shown these products to be as safe or safer than conventional counterparts," Carel du Marchie Sarvaas, director of Green Biotechnology Europe for the EuropaBio industry group, told EurActiv.

Food & Water Europe welcomed the French government's call for the European Commission to ban MON810. "GM is an outdated technology, and it is draining research time and money away from more promising technologies. We encourage other EU member states to support the French in their bid to stop the GM experiment in Europe," the organisation's director, Wenonah Hauter, said in a statement.