France - Article published the Thursday 20 September 2012 -
Latest update : Friday 28 September 2012
Rats that had undergone the Caen University tests
AFP/Criigen
France will ask for a Europe-wide ban on a genetically
modified maize developed by US agribusiness Monsanto if the findings of
tests made public Wednesday prove to be true. The study found that rats
fed on the corn for two years developed tumours the size of ping-pong
balls, liver damage and digestive problems.
France will call for a ban “at a European level” if the
national health agency (Anses) backs up the findings of the study by
French scientist Gilles-Eric Seralini, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault
told an audience in the Burgundy city of Dijon on Thursday.
And a communiqué from Agriculture Minister Stéphane Foll, Ecology
Minister Delphine Batho and Health Minister Marisol Touraine said that
Paris may demand a ban on the import of Monsanto’s NK603 corn, the
subject of the tests.
The question will also be taken to the European Union’s Food Safety
Agency, which green campaigners have often accused of conflict of
interest because several members are alleged to be connected to seed
companies.
The
study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Food and Chemical Toxicology,
found that rats fed on a diet of 33 per cent NK603 corn and others
exposed to Roundup, the weedkiller used with it, developed tumours,
liver damage and digestive problems.
Premature deaths and sickness were particularly prevalent among females.
While previous studies have usually lasted only about three months,
Seralini’s lasted two years, the average rat’s lifespan, and the
illnesses developed later in the period covered.
NK603 is a type of corn, or
maize, that has been engineered to make it resistant to the herbicide
Roundup, which is also manufactured by Monsanto, and is used by farmers
to maximise yields.
It can be imported but not grown in Europe.
Only Monsanto's MON810 transgenic corn and BASF's Amflora potato can be grown in the European Union.
France, Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg and Romania have outlawed the growing of MON810 on their territory.
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Monsanto said it was “too soon” to comment when the findings were
made public but some of Seralini’s colleagues criticised him for working
with journalists to ensure that they were covered in the media before
his peers had had time to examine them.
Gilles-Eric Seralini, who works at the
University of Caen
in Normandy, has publicly opposed GM agriculture for some time and
often found himself in a minority when he sat on a government committee
examining them.
His study cost three million euros, he says, and was funded by and anti-GM campaign,
Criigen, the Charles Mayer Foundation and
Ceres, a group formed by major retailers.
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