France bans GM crops before evaluation

Speaking at a national conference on the environment,
Sarkozy said no GMO crops would be planted in France until the government had
received the results of an evaluation by a new authority on GMOs set to be
launched later this year.

“I don’t want to be in contradiction with EU
laws, but I have to make a choice. In line of the precautionary principle, I
wish that the commercial cultivation of genetically modified pesticide GMOs be
suspended,” he said.

The EU has approved cultivation of
a GM variety of maize (the so-called MON 810) developed by the US biotech firm
Monsanto
, but it has
restricted other GM seeds and foods, in contrast with the US.