France Upholds GM Crop Ban
March 20th, 2008Via: Reuters:
France’s top legal authority on Wednesday upheld a government decision to ban commercial use of the only genetically modified (GM) crop grown in the country by rejecting an emergency injunction filed by the pro-GM camp.
France issued decrees banning the use of MON 810 maize seeds in February after a government-appointed committee said it unearthed new evidence of damage GM products could inflict on the environment.
Ecologists and ordinary consumers hailed the ruling, but seedmakers, including MON 810 creator Monsanto, and maize farmers lodged an emergency injunction in an attempt to overturn the ban.
In a document released on Wednesday, France’s State Council shot down arguments put forward by pro-GM groups, saying they did not cast doubt on the validity of the government’s stance.
“(Those seeking the injunction) have no foundation to demand the suspension of the decrees banning commercial sowings of MON 810 maize,” wrote the judge overseeing the case.
In 2000 when I was last in the US, I was astonished how all the US newspapers portrayed this issue as a political issue of European economic interests versus the US right to export to Europe, with absolutely no discussion of the health and safety aspects of GM at all. The only mention this got was in one newspaper menioning the ‘false’ attempt to sidetrack the issue by Europeans trying to dodge the ‘real’ issue of competition by trying to insist on health issues that ‘had no substance’. There was no mention at all of how many European governments actualy wanted to import GM but dare not due to the health and safety outcry from the people of those countries.
Monsanto – now what planet did that crew land on earth from?
They never give up trying to ruin our world with their frankenseeds, chemicals, etc., etc., ad nasueum.
I don’t know what’s worse, the US Pentagon or Monsanto.
If you ever look for good references on how badly GM sucks check
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/Home/index.cfm
Two or three months ago Organic Valley brought Jeffery Smith (author of “Seeds of Deception”) in to speak at their headquarters and I was able to sit in on his talk. Afterwords I immediately bought his book, and I strongly encourage everyone to read it.
Like most people I tend to avoid reading books like this because I figure “yeah, I already know GMO’s are bad…why do I need to read something telling me what I already know?” What I learned is just how truly scary this mess really is.
For example, and this is just one of about 50-something major, documented concerns Smith exposes: the reason DNA doesn’t automatically cross between species (like when you eat a plate of green beans) is that there’s a kind of “off” switch that prevents it doing so. Therefore, if you WANT that DNA to cross, the first thing you do is to remove that off-switch. Unfortunately, you can’t put it back. So now those GMO green bean genes DO cross species. Any species. Whenever they can. Like in your stomach lining or intestines. This is what’s happening, what responsible research is finding, and this is the kind of thing the industrial biotech industry has specifically avoided ever investigating. As Smith shows again and again, the GMO industry is founded on avoiding or just hiding any kind of research into the downside of their products.
There are so many very bad angles to this situation, but ultimately Smith affirms that the future doesn’t have to be bleak.
“This is the easiest battle to win” he said at the talk. “All you have to do is educate people about the dangers. Because there’s no real incentive for the processed-foods industry to use GMO grains and such, so if consumers step up and stop buying products containing GMO’s the industry will drop them immediately.” That’s precisely what happened in Europe, and that’s why the biotech companies have spent so much time PREVENTING any such public discussion of GMO’s from ever happening here in the U.S.
And we wonder why cancer is on the increase! One corporate entity bolsters another – sell more GM foods and sell more drugs.
I have always wondered if companies like Monsanto will eventually get sued over “contaminating” natural seeds. I recall a documentray a while back in which Monsanto was suing a farmer for using GM seeds that had blown in from his neighbours farm. Monsanto claimed becausue the farmer was using their seeds, he had to pay. What about the farmer being able to sue Monsanto for contaminating his fields? Oh, I forgot, Monsanto has the power laywers on their side.
We europeans mostly LOATHE GM stuff. Ask any normal people, in any European country. And for good reason. We dont understand how DNA works, not even close. We know some parts of it encode proteins, but thats it.
Starting to MODIFY DNA on this level of understanding is similar to cooking explosives in your kitchen with only a hand-scrabbled note explaining how to make nitroglycerine. It should be simply banned, completely, for now.