GMO: Europe Says Yes; Member States Don't Follow

Like France, six European Union Member states have already suspended cultivation of Monsanto 810. All are struggling to adapt to the 2001 directive

Go to Rue89(translated by TruthOut.org) original
The proposed law with respect to GMO being debated in the National Assembly at this moment is no accidental coincidence. Nor does it reflect a sudden desire by the government to legislate on this point. For France, it's all about catching up on their European responsibility before taking over the Union presidency. And about finally transposing the 2001 European directive on GMO into French law. That directive compels Member States to create a legal framework for GMO open-field cultivation - notably to legislate on the distances that must be maintained from non-GMO crops and the responsibilities when contamination does occur.

A directive that is quite simply "un-transposable," in the opinion of Green Gérard Onesta, European Parliament vice president and a "volunteer reaper" [a person who has trimmed GMO fields to prevent their cultivation]. In his view, this text immediately demonstrates its limits concerning contamination distances:

"To hope to make mud and pure water share the same test-tube, that's what the European directive proposes! How do you expect to prevent contamination on each side of a border?

"If a Member State wants a 50km [about 31 miles] security perimeter, the neighboring country can shrug it off.

"If we continue in this direction, ultimately the mud-lovers will be delighted and tough luck for those who prefer pure water."

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