Tres bien fait, President Sarkozy! Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO's) are no longer welcome in France. The U.S. may file a suit with the World Trade Organization or heavily tax French imports as a retaliative measure.
Some of France's farmers had been planting Monsanto's corn seed, MON810 to grow crops for animals. It had never been approved for human consumption. (It wasn't approved for consumption in the U.S. either, but made it's way into consumer's food, causing allergic reactions (Starlink crop traced to taco shells.)
The French scientists who studied the issue stated , according to the Wall Street Journal, "that pollen from MON810 is too easily transmittable to neighboring crops and can infect nearby butterflies and worms." That doesn't seem like an important issue until we take a closer look.
Percy Schmeiser of Canada can attest to his crops being affected by neighboring crops as his canola fields were contaminated by Monsanto's Roundup Ready gene which were planted in a nearby field. He was forced to pay Monsanto for their product which the wind blew into his field. Strange, but true. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Schmeiser for more information on this aspect.
With regard to the butterflies and worms, there was a science magazine that came out a few years ago that described how the monarch butterfly's insides would explode as a result of eating the pollen from Monsanto's genetically modified seed. I couldn't make this up.
Bravo Sarko for saying No to GMO!
* Map is from cdurable.info and shows how much GMO corn is grown in French departments.
2 comments:
Euh....You know, there are reasonable reservations that one might have about GM food, but when unreasonable reservations are proposed, it weakens the case of all protesters. In that light, I have to point out that GM corn has not been shown to be allergenic, and GM corn pollen does not kill monarch butterflies. (Butterflies don't eat pollen. A monarch larva could be killed by eating GM Bt corn, except that monarch larvae don't eat corn.)
I've read some compelling articles that convinced me that GMO corn is a potential issue for the monarch, and may well lead to allergic reactions in some people. My scientific journals didn't make the move to Paris, but one in particular described what happens internally to the monarch (or its larvae, I don't remember which), which amounted to its insides becoming shrapnel (my words).
Also, the fact that GMO crops can pollute other crops through wind pollination is a strong enough reason alone to put a moratorium on them. Don't want them in my field please! And I'd also appreciate labeling of foods with GMO's.
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