France defends GM ban after report says safe in food

A report by the French food safety agency that says genetically modified maize is safe for humans does not call France's ban on the crop into question, Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said on Thursday. Borloo's statement came in response to an article in the Le Figaro daily, which said the agency, Afssa, did not see any health risks to the insect-resistant MON 810 maize developed by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto. MON 810 is the only genetically modified crop approved in the European Union but France suspended its cultivation last year, invoking a so-called safeguard clause against the European Commission's authorization. Borloo, said the ban was imposed not because of any direct threat to human or animal health but because of the risk that fields of genetically modified maize could create wider environmental problems, notably contaminating other crops. "The basis of the safeguard clause, which tackles open-field cultivation of the Monsanto 810 maize, is on risks considered as severe for the environment and not on sanitary risks," he said. However, Monsanto said in a statement on Thursday the MON 810 maize was safe both for consumers and the environment. Borloo is due to appear before a committee of European biotech experts next week to justify France's ban. Commenting on the issue from Brussels, after a meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said France would maintain its ban until a decision by the Commission. "NO CHANGE" Separately, Afssa said the report, which had been due to be made public on February 20 after Borloo's appearance before the committee, repeated what had already been said in an earlier report, which has been public since June last year. "If you look at the risks for human and animal feeding concerning this GMO, there is no change in Afssa's stance," the agency's director general Pascale Briand told Reuters. "Monsanto 810 maize and its by-products have the same level of health and food security level as conventional maize." Unlike in the United States and Latin America, where they are more common, only seven EU nations planted GM crops last year, an industry-sponsored report said this week. Polls show the vast majority of the French are opposed to GM crops because they have not seen enough proof that they do not pose risks to consumers and the environment. Monsanto says the protein contained in the maize has selective toxicity but is harmless to humans, fish and wildlife. Several green groups expressed surprise that Afssa's report, originally due to be published on February 20 had been leaked in the French press before Borloo's hearing on Monday, February 16. "The release (of Afssa's report) in these conditions is a gross manipulation by pro-GMO lobbies," Greenpeace said. It and other groups called on France to stand firm against the European Commission, which had authorized the GM maize. After the article in Le Figaro, Afssa said it had decided to make its latest report public by posting it on its website www.afssa.fr immediately.