PARIS: The French arm of Monsanto, the U.S. biotechnology giant, said Thursday that it would continue experiments on genetically modified crops in France despite a court ruling stopping some of its tests.

The top French court, the Council of State, last week canceled two authorizations granted to Monsanto to grow test fields of its genetically modified corn, called Roundup Ready. The court said Monsanto had not given sufficiently precise details of where the field trials would take place. The annulment was welcomed by foes of genetically altered crops, who said it showed that experiments were held in secret. They repeated calls for all trials in France to be halted.

But Monsanto, an industry leader in genetically modifying crops, said the court decision would not stop it from testing.

"We'll continue our experiments, but we might have to change a bit the way we ask for licenses in the future," said Yann Fichet, director of external relations for Monsanto France.

The two canceled multiyear licenses were granted in 2004 to grow a certain type of genetically engineered corn resistant to the Roundup insecticide. One of the two licenses was out of date. The other could have been used this year, Monsanto said. The company, which submitted four additional testing requests this season concerning 17 sites and was waiting for an approval from the French Agriculture Ministry in the coming days, said it had always provided all details concerning its experiments.

 "Every year we provide the farm ministry an exact list and detailed maps of the experiments we intend to do," Fichet said. He acknowledged that for licenses lasting several years - like those that were canceled - the company does not hand the list of locations every year to the French genetic engineering commission, as the Council of State says it is requested to do under the French law. "We don't want to do so, because then our experiments are destroyed by the opponents," Fichet said, referring to opponents of modification.

Opposition to such crops has been virulent for years in France, where a large majority of the population said it would refuse to eat genetically modified foods as long as long-term safety was not proven. Yet France applies European Union legislation that permits some modified corn to be grown and experiments on several types of modified crops to be carried on under precise rules and only after approval. This infuriates opponents, including those who regularly destroy field experiments and say the tests lead to irreversible contamination of conventional plants.

Half of Monsanto's experiments in France are destroyed each year, Fichet said. Last week, an organization of French corn growers, AGPM, said many farmers who this year had planted up to 5,000 hectares, or 12,355 acres, of modified crops for commercial sale, 10 times the area sown in 2005, had asked to remain anonymous to avoid attacks on their crops. "Transparency today is used to destroy our work. This is unacceptable," Fichet said. "It certainly makes us think deeply about our experiments in
France."

For more information on this topic or related issues you can search the thousands of archived articles on the OCA website using keywords:

Become an OCA Member! Sign up below:

First Name
Last Name
Email
Email Preference	HTML EmailText Email
Phone
Street
Street 2
City
State	Select One... Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware D.C. Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Other
Zip
Country	United StatesAfghanistanAlbaniaAlgeriaAndorraAngolaAntigua and BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBhutanBoliviaBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswanaBrazilBruneiBulgariaBurkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroonCanadaCape VerdeCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaColombiaComorosCongoCongDemocratic Republic of theCosta RicaCroatiaCubaCyprusCzech RepublicIvory CoastDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican RepublicEast TimorEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial GuineaEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFijiFinlandFranceGabonGambiTheGeorgiaGermanyGhanaGreeceGrenadaGuatemalaGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHondurasHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIranIraqIrelandIsraelItalyJamaicaJapanJordanKazakhstanKenyaKiribatiKoreNorthKoreSouthKuwaitKyrgyzstanLaosLatviaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMacedoniFormer Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMarshall IslandsMauritaniaMauritiusMexicoMicronesiFederated States ofMoldovaMonacoMongoliaMoroccoMozambiqueMyanmarNamibiaNauruNepalNetherlandsNew ZealandNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNorwayOmanPakistanPalauPanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPolandPortugalQatarRomaniaRussiaRwandaSaint Kitts and NevisSaint LuciaSaint Vincent and The GrenadinesSamoaSan MarinoSao Tome and PrincipeSaudi ArabiaSenegalSerbia and MontenegroSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSlovakiaSloveniaSolomon IslandsSomaliaSouth AfricaSpainSri LankaSudanSurinameSwazilandSwedenSwitzerlandSyriaTaiwanTajikistanTanzaniaThailandTogoTongaTrinidad and TobagoTunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanTuvaluUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUruguayUzbekistanVanuatuVatican CityVenezuelaVietnamWestern SaharaYemenZambiaZimbabwe