French farmers lose bid to overturn GM corn ban

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — A group of French farmers on Wednesday lost a bid to overturn a government ban on a strain of genetically-modified corn, a month after it came into force.

France's highest administrative body, the state council, rejected the challenge from nine plaintiffs including a maize producers' association backed by the US agribusiness giant Monsanto, which produces the strain.

"The judge has rejected the complaint," said a spokeswoman for the state council. "There are no serious doubts as to the legality of the decisions" to ban the use of MON810 strain of corn, the only GM crop grown in France.

The French government in February officially banned the GM crop after a watchdog authority said it had "serious doubts" about the product in a report that has...