NOTE: The "20 Minutes" article referred to can be found here:
http://www.20minutes.fr/article/1031256/trois-ministres-environnement-demandent-revision-autorisations-ogm (French)
There's also an interview with Corinne Lepage
http://www.20minutes.fr/article/1031274/corinne-lepage-on-fait-croire-unanimite-contre-letude-seralini (French)
Another former Minister, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, has expressed her support for the call for the assessments that led to the authorization of GM maize NK603 to be reviewed with the same vigilance that has been applied to Seralini's study. She also says the controversy shows the urgent need to replicate Seralini's study.
http://nkm-blog.org/ogm-pas-de-confiance-sans-transparence/ (French)
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GM: Royal, Lepage and Voynet want authorizations reviewed
Le Nouvel Observateur with AFP, 28 October 2012
http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/ogm-le-scandale/20121028.OBS7309/ogm-trois-ex-ministres-de-l-ecologie-demandent-de-revoir-les-autorisations.html
Translation by GMWatch
*The three former Environment Ministers call for a revision of the market authorizations for Roundup and NK603 maize following the controversy arising from the study by Professor Seralini.
Three former Ministers of the Environment, Segolene Royal, Dominique Voynet and Corinne Lepage, are asking for a review of the studies that made possible the marketing approval for transgenic maize NK603 and Monsanto's Roundup herbicide.
In an article to be published Monday October 29 in the the free newspaper "20 minutes", the three former ministers say they welcome "the willingness expressed by the government (...) [to] completely overhaul the systems for evaluating GMOs and pesticides" after the controversy arose from the study by Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini.
"Until new studies are carried out to ensure the protection of human health, in the absence of the suspension of NK603 and Roundup, we ask that the studies that allowed the placing on the market of these products are reviewed, as permitted by the relevant Community and national laws," they write.
The government favors a complete overhaul of the system
Two French health agencies last Monday refuted the conclusions of Professor Seralini on the toxicity of Monsanto's GM maize, but both have recommended research on the effects of long-term consumption of GMOs, which is almost nonexistent at the moment.
In the aftermath, the government has called for a "rethinking of the European system of evaluation, authorization and control of GMOs and pesticides."