French Court overturns GM maize MON810 ban

France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d'Etat, has overturned a French ban on the cultivation of the genetically modified maize MON810 for a third time. 

 

But the government has said that the ruling will have no effect, as an EU directive from 2015 allows each Member State to prohibit the growing of GM crops on its soil, even if they are approved by the European Food Safety Authority. 

 

The Conseil’s ruling overturned a government decree published in March 2014, which was itself a response to the court’s decision in July 2013 to cancel an earlier ban on MON810, produced by Monsanto. It had previously rescinded a ban imposed in 2011. 

 

In its ruling, the Conseil said that, ‘the conditions set by EU legislation for such a ban were not met’ by the decree, which had ‘not demonstrated the serious health or environmental risks’ required to ban a crop that was approved at EU level. 

 

MON810 maize is the only form of GM food cultivated in Europe. It is grown in three member states - Spain, Portugal and the Czech Republic.