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"Serious Questions" Open the Way for a Ban on GMO Corn
By Gaëlle Dupont and Hervé Kempf
Le Monde
Thursday 10 January 2008
Issued Wednesday, January 9, an opinion of the Provisional High Authority on
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) opens the way for a moratorium on GMO cultivation
in France. The two questions Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo posed to the
High Authority were specific. Is there new scientific information about the
transgenic corn MON810 since its authorization by the European Commission in
1998? Are there serious questions of a nature to cause reassessment of that
homologation? The answers were clear.
"Yes, new scientific information exists," declared Jean-François
Le Grand, UMP senator for La Manche, president of the High Authority, as he
delivered his opinion to Mr. Borloo. "Yes, serious questions exist. In
order to remove them, we must have time and money."
The words were not chosen by chance. During his Tuesday, January 8, press conference,
Nicolas Sarkozy had said he was prepared to activate the European escape clause
on MON810 in the event of "serious questions." It seems most likely,
therefore, that the clause will be activated and MON810 cultivation suspended.
The moratorium will then be in effect, since this corn that is resistant to
the corn borer - a major corn insect pest - is the only transgenic plant that
may be cultivated in Europe.
An "official announcement" should follow, according to Mr. Borloo.
"The president wished the opinion to be issued," he noted. "I
leave you to guess my position." For the first time in France, an authority
charged with evaluating GMO has issued a qualified opinion that is solidly backed
up.
The original aspect of the High Authority on GMO, which came about as a result
of the Environmental Summit, is its composition, much more varied than former
governmental agencies. It includes scientists from numerous disciplines (ecology,
population genetics, agronomy, entomology ...) and not only geneticists and
toxicologists.
Featured also among its 35 members are professors of law, economy and sociology,
and representatives of civil society (ecologists, agricultural union members
and members of economic organizations).
"Civil Disobedience"
Greenpeace, however, and the Peasant Confederation - both opposed to GMO -
boycotted the work, since they demanded the activation of the escape clause
immediately after the promise the ecology minister made during the Environmental
Summit at the end of October. Mr. Borloo had said then that he was ready to
activate the clause.
Right up to the end, the majority union of the agricultural world, the FNSEA,
and seed stock manufacturers - in favor of GMO - sought to bend the decision,
activating their contacts within the government.
Wednesday at noon, the union representative at the Environmental Summit, Pascal
Ferey, mentioned possible "civil disobedience" - the purchase of MON810
in Spain - if the decision was motivated by political rather than scientific
factors.
Received by Nicolas Sarkozy during the afternoon, FNSEA President Jean-Michel
Lemétayer asserted that he had received assurances that the president
would take time to examine the opinion before making any decision. But, with
the head of state's statement during the press conference the day before, Jean-Louis
Borloo had already won his case, while Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier was
kept aside from any decision.
The prospect of the escape clause is, of course, welcomed by ecologists and
by Green deputies who have emphasized the lacunae in our knowledge of the environmental
and health impact of GMO for years. But it is also welcomed by a part of the
agricultural world. The Peasant Federation and Rural Coordination are not in
favor of GMO, mostly for economic reasons: they fear GMO manufacturers' takeover
of seed stock.
On the other hand, the majority of agricultural union and seed stock manufacturers
are confounded. "What's at issue is the competitiveness of French agriculture;
I have the impression people are forgetting that," deplores Christian Pèes,
president of the Pau-Euralis cooperative, which is in favor of GMO. "While
we talk about an old GMO, crops are developing all over the world." For
French farmers, MON810, cultivated over 22,000 hectares in 2007, represents
an economic advantage, with a 10-30 percent higher yield, depending on the situation.
The turn of events has also created surprise within the right-wing majority,
which accuses the government of folding to José Bové, on a hunger
strike since January 3. "The clause sends a bad message, just when France
is getting ready to take over the European Union presidency," asserts Jean
Bizet, UMP senator for La Manche, who is in favor of GMO. The pro-GMO are convinced
they've been sacrificed in a government "quid pro quo" with the ecologists:
a victory on GMO in exchange for their silence on nuclear power during Environmental
Summit discussions.
Activation of the escape clause, however, will not mean that France has determined
definitively on the fate of GMO. It's a method established by the government.
The High Authority will issue its opinions case by case on each GMO. Its composition
and its broadened questioning should give it a legitimacy that previous government
agencies, like the Commission on Bio-engineering, were never able to achieve.
The tenor of the opinion on MON810 reflects this new mindset. The second piece
of the system, the law, the reading of which was finally pushed back to February
5, will define the conditions for coexistence between the crops.
Translation: Truthout French language editor Leslie Thatcher.
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