GM Crops - The Ideological Battleground for the Precautionary Principle

In the blue corner, Monsanto and the WTO.  In the red corner, the EU.  The battle for GM crops has always been about the precautionary principle.  


A government-appointed committee of scientists, farmers, politicians and non-governmental organizations had examined MON 810, a maize developed by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto and issued a report in early January 2008.

"The committee cannot say anything but that there are serious doubts on the use of MON 810," the head of the committee, senator Jean-Francois Legrand, told a joint news conference with French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday that if the experts expressed "serious doubts" over GMO use, he would use a safeguard clause which allows European Union members to refrain from applying EU laws on the basis they may put the population at risk. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL09337620080109

Later in January 2008, French president Nicolas Sarkozy took a stand against biotech giant Monsanto and banned the GM maize which has previously been grown by French farmers. 

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/gm/france-bans-monsantos-gm-maize-20080115

Earlier in 2007, Sarkozy had promised to review GM crops as part of his Green France Plan http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7062577.stm

The action in banning the GM crops leaves him open to a trade war with the USA.  The WTO does not operate on uncertainty; it operates on risk.  Hence, banning an agricultural product because of a perceived uncertainty is in breach of trade protocols.

See my earlier post on Monsanto's view on the PP and GM crops.