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France Says No to Genetically Modified Crops, No to Fracking

Common Dreams staff

September 16, 2012

France will maintain its ban on genetically modified crops [GMOs] and will ban fracking, politicians announced during an environmental conference held in Paris Friday and Saturday.

"The government is keeping its moratorium on the cultivation of GMO seeds currently authorized in the European Union," Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told the conference in Paris on Saturday.

Reuters reports that the ban specifically targets Monsanto's MON810 maize, as it is the only GMO currently allowed in Europe.

The ban was originally enacted in 2008, was overturned by a French court in 2011, and was reinstated in March.

At the opening of the conference, President François Hollande declared the banning of shale gas drilling, or fracking.

Hollande stated that "no one" could be sure that fracking was free from "serious risks to health and the environment" and said that seven requests for fracking permits that had previously been submitted to the state are rejected.

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