Why has France banned further GM crops?

Expert response from Carel du Marchie Sarvaas

Former Director of Agricultural Biotechnology, EuropaBio

Friday, 08/11/2013 19:20

For three years France was the second largest GM cultivator in the EU, before the government introduced a moratorium in 2008. Since then, the highest French Court, Conseil d’Etat, and the European Court of Justice have repeatedly declared the ban illegal. As a consequence, French farmers are denied the possibility to choose GM technology. The EU’s official food safety watchdog has consistently upheld its scientific opinions on the products affected by national bans in Europe, repeating that these products are as safe as their conventional counterparts.

More information on France’s history regarding GM crops can be found here: http://www.ogm.org/Tout%20savoir/Historique/historique-des-evenements-relatifs-aux-ogm-en-france-et-dans-le-monde.html. (For an English version of this content, please visit translate.google.com and select your language for translation. Then copy and paste the text and the translation will appear.)