17.05.12
PARIS — France's top administrative court on Monday overturned a government order banning French farmers from planting genetically modified crops from the US agriculture giant Monsanto.
France's agriculture ministry imposed a ban in February 2008 amid concerns over public safety, but its decision had already been called into question by the European Court and has now been annulled by the State Council.
The State Council's ruling stated that the government had failed to prove that Monsanto crops "present a particularly elevated level of risk to either human health or the environment".
In September, the European Court of Justice ordered France to review its ban. Since then, the Council ruled, the French government had failed to present new evidence of the supposed dangers posed by the plants.
Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire, in a first reaction, said the government would "examine all options in order not to grow Monsanto 810 maize".
Le Maire said the ruling did not surprise him and that the government continued to be opposed to planting genetically modified crops as there were "still too many uncertainties about the consequences for the environment".
Source: AFP