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MONSANTO

French court lifts ban on Monsanto GM corn

France's top administrative court on Thursday threw out a government ban on US agro-chemicals giant Monsanto from growing a type of genetically modified corn.

Published: 1 August 2013 15:11 CEST
French court lifts ban on Monsanto GM corn
France's top administrative court threw out on August 1, 2013 a government ban on US agro-chemicals giant Monsanto from growing a type of genetically modified corn. Photo: Philippe Huguen/AFP

A moratorium on MON810 corn – one of just two types of genetically altered food crops whose cultivation is approved by the EU –  has been in place in France since March 2012.

The Council of State court noted in a statement that the moratorium had little legal basis.

It pointed out that EU regulations say such a ban "can only be taken by a member state in case of an emergency or if a situation poses a major risk" to the health of people or animals, or to the environment.

In a joint statement, Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll and Ecology Minister Philippe Martin announced the authorities would take a fresh decision on MON810 before the next sowing season in April 2014.

But they hinted that further moves against the corn lay ahead.

They "take note of the ruling and recall the goverment's undertaking… to maintain the moratorium on growing GM crops to prevent economic and environmental risks for other crops and bee-keeping," the statement said.

It added that the ministries would work on new directions to meet those preventive goals.Brussels cleared MON810 in 1998 for 10 years and Monsanto submitted a request in 2007 for it to be extended but the process has been effectively frozen since then.

In the absence of a formal decision on the renewal request, MON810 is still grown on a small scale, notably in Spain and Portugal whose governments have been more welcoming than other member states.

Among the reactions to Thursday's ruling, Greenpeace called on the authorities to reintroduce the ban.

MON810 encouraged the emergence of pesticide-resistant insects, it said, questioning also whether corn played a part in the worrying decline of Europe's bees.

The Small Farmers Confederation (Confederation Paysanne) said a fresh ban would "send a strong signal" to the United States — currently negotiating a free-trade pact with the EU — that France defended small-scale, environmentally friendly farming rather than "multinational lobbies."

MON810 is one of just two types of genetically engineered crops approved by the EU.

The other is BASF's Amflora potato, but the German conglomerate has stopped producing it in the EU. Europe also allows the imports of some GM products for animal feed.

In July, Monsanto announced it was giving up seeking approval for new biotech crops in Europe, and instead would focus on its conventional seeds business there.

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MONSANTO

French police to probe alleged Monsanto lists on opinion-makers

France has opened a preliminary enquiry into allegations that US pesticides maker Monsanto had information illegally collected on the views and pliability of hundreds of high-profile figures and media outlets.

Published: 11 May 2019 08:49 CEST
French police to probe alleged Monsanto lists on opinion-makers
Activists from the 'Attac' protest group scale the offices of Bayer -which recently acquired Monsanto- in La Garenne Colombes near the financial district of La Defence on the outskirts of Paris. Photo
Paris judicial police will carry out the probe following a complaint by the daily Le Monde and one of its journalists, whose names appear on the list, the Paris prosecutor's office said.
 
Two anti-pesticide NGOs — Foodwatch and Generations Futures — are also preparing to lodge legal complaints over the alleged lists.
 
The investigators will look into the possible “collection of personal information by fraudulent, unfair or illicit means”.
   
US giant Monsanto allegedly had public relations agency FleishmanHillard draw up the files on the opinions of the targeted people and media bodies on the controversial weedkiller glyphosate and on genetically modified crops as 
well as their propensity to be influenced in their opinions.
 
 
Figuring on the list are politicians, scientists and journalists — including four from AFP (Agence France-Presse). Information was collected on their views on pesticides and on Monsanto as well as their leisure pursuits, addresses and phone numbers, according to the France 2 public television channel.
   
Some of the names were listed under categories such as “priority targets” and “potential allies to recruit”, according to reports.
   
France's former environment minister Segolene Royal, whose name was said to appear on the lists, said the allegation “says a lot about the methods of lobbyists… they carry out spying, infiltration, seek to influence, sometimes financially I imagine”, adding that other companies are likely to indulge in similar practices.
   
A spokesman for FleishmanHillard told AFP: “FleishmanHillard and our staff are committed to compliance with applicable laws and we are committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct. 
   
“We continue to take that responsibility very seriously and will carefully examine the questions raised by certain media outlets about the lists of stakeholders that included publicly available information.”
   
Glyphosate developer Monsanto was convicted in the United States in 2018 and 2019 of not taking necessary steps to warn of the potential risks of Roundup — their weedkiller containing the chemical, which two California juries found caused cancer in two users.
   
German pharmaceutical firm Bayer, which bought Monsanto last year, announced last month that over 13,000 lawsuits related to the weedkiller have been launched in the US. 
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