Sarkozy mengt zich in de GGO-discussie.

Vilt ontleende aan De Morgen op 26 oktober 2007 het bericht dat Sarkozy het milieugevaar van GGO's en pesticiden wil indijken.

“De Franse president Nicolas Sarkozy heeft verstrekkende milieumaatregelen gepresenteerd. Hij kondigt een Ecologische New Deal aan, waarbij Frankrijk 1 miljard euro zal investeren in onderzoek naar energie-efficiëntie, biodiversiteit en milieugezondheid. De teelt van genetisch gemodificeerde gewassen wordt een halt toegeroepen en het gebruik van pesticiden moet binnen tien jaar gehalveerd zijn. Er komen strengere straffen voor vervuilers.

Sarkozy deed zijn voorstellen op een nationale conferentie over klimaat en milieu, bijgewoond door klimaatpaus en kersvers Nobelprijswinnaar Al Gore. Die bedankte Sarkozy voor zijn inzet.
De president sprak zich niet uit over CO2-reductie. Een belangrijk luik in zijn plan is daarentegen de aanpassing van de belastingen. De belastingen op milieuvriendelijke producten zouden worden verlaagd, terwijl belastingen op importproducten uit landen die het Kyotoprotocol niet respecteren, zouden verhogen.
Ook voor vrachtwagens en vervuilende privéwagens komen er belastingen. Ten slotte moet 20 procent van de Franse energie tegen 2020 groen zijn en tegen 2010 komt er een verbod op energievreters in huis, zoals gloeilampen en ramen met enkel glas. Kernenergie blijft nodig, aldus de president, maar er worden geen nieuwe centrales meer gebouwd.(KS)”

In France a large scale, four month forum on environmental issues organised by the French government is aimed at defining national environmental policies on future regulations of GM crops.

It is very likely that the so-called "Grenelle de l’environnement", could change French agricultural policy.

A working group on GMOs has suggested new legislation oriented towards transparency and towards the freedom of choice for farmers and for consumers.

Such laws also would regulate coexistence more strictly and enact the ‘causer’ principle, under which users of GMOs retain ultimate responsibility for the control of their crops.

Uproar among farmers
Announcements of environment minister Jean-Louis Borloo considering even a ban on the usage of GM seeds had caused an outrage among farmers’, seed producers’ and grain processors’ organisations. Yet, after their protests, this issue does not appear in the final working group proposals.

Further suggestions by the working group include increased research on biotechnology and its effects, as well as the establishment of an independent national advisory body.

French veto
New agricultural policies may exert influence even beyond French borders. French representatives to the Council of Ministers abstained from voting on the EU import approval of three GM maize lines in September, and French veto could hinder current negotiations on the extension of approval for MON810 maize.

MON810 is the only GM maize approved to date for cultivation in the EU.
During October, public consultations will take place in 15 cities throughout France and on the internet.
President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to announce by the end of October the government’s conclusions on national positions and administrative plans regarding biotechnology.

© 2007 Reed Business
Source: AllAboutFeed.net

II: France Suspends Planting of GMO Crops

PARIS, Oct 25 (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday he would suspend the planting of genetically modified (GMO) pest-resistant crops until the results of an appraisal of the issue later this year or early in 2008.

Unveiling the country’s new environment policy, Sarkozy said no GMO crops would be planted in France until the government had received the results of an evaluation by a new authority on GMOs set to be launched later this year.

”I don’t want to be in contradiction with EU laws, but I have to make a choice. In line of the precautionary principle, I wish that the commercial cultivation of genetically modified pesticide GMOs be suspended,” he said.

The only GMO crop grown in the European Union is a maize using the so-called MON 810 technology developed by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto, which is designed to resist the European corn borer, a pest that attacks maize stalks and thrives in warmer climates in southern EU countries.

Monsanto says the protein contained in its maize has selective toxicity but is harmless to humans, fish and wildlife.

Just 22,000 hectares -- 1.5 percent of France’s cultivated maize land -- have been sown with GMO maize this year but some farmers have urged greater use of GMO crops to boost yields.

During a visit to Paris on Wednesday, European Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said a full ban on GMO crops would clearly go against the rules and that France would lose in court if it implemented such a ban.

Research to Continue
The future of GMOs has long been the subject of heated debate in France and its reluctance, along with other European countries, to use GMO crops compares starkly with the United States, which has a far higher take-up of GMO technology.

A ban on GMO maize growing for the coming months would not affect maize production in France because sowings do not take place until spring.

Sarkozy stressed that his move did not mean a halt to GMO research.

”This suspension of commercial cultivation of pesticide GMOs does not mean -- I want to be clear on this -- that we must condemn all GMOs, notably future GMOs,” he said.

During his election campaign last year, Sarkozy said he had ”doubts and reservations” about the commercial use of GMO products which for him ”had little interest”, but he stressed that he had wanted research to continue.

Several European Union countries have dug in their heels on whether their farmers may grow MON 810 maize, one of Europe’s oldest GMO crops.

Hungary, one of the EU-27’s biggest grain producers, outlawed the planting of MON 810 seed in January 2005.

Germany earlier this year decided that maize produced from MON 810 seeds could only be sold if there was an accompanying monitoring plan to research its effects on the environment.

And Austria may soon face a third attempt by EU regulators to force it to lift bans on two GMO maize types, including Monsanto’s MON 810 and T25 maize made by German drugs and chemicals group Bayer.

III. Sarkozy Promises a Green Revolution for France

PARIS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy promised a green revolution on Thursday, unveiling a mix of tax measures and investment pledges that he said would put France in the vanguard of the war against global warming.

”France isn’t late but France wants now to be in the lead,” he said in a speech wrapping up a special environmental policy conference seeking ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions and help change attitudes to the environment.

The congress was one of the highest profile green initiatives ever launched in France and fulfilled an election campaign promise by Sarkozy, who has said his government will emphasize sustainable development.

The French president pledged investments to improve energy efficiency in buildings, as well as measures to encourage greener vehicles in a package that was welcomed by France’s main farmers’ lobby and by green groups.

”There’s undoubtedly ambition there, there’s a cultural change at state level” said Yannick Jodiot, program director at Greenpeace France. ”But unfortunately there’s still too much ambiguity there for us not to keep being extremely vigilant.”

France has long lagged behind Germany and Scandinavian countries in promoting environmental innovation but, with former U.S. Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore sitting alongside, Sarkozy faced high expectations.

Sarkozy said he would order the suspension of commercial cultivation of crops genetically modified to repel pests, pending a wider study and asked the agriculture minister to look at halving the use of farm pesticides ”if possible” in 10 years.

Further consultations will be held before the end of the year and parliament is expected to legislate in the first half of next year.

Tax Overhaul
He steered clear of promising a generalized ”carbon tax” that some environmental organizations had wanted but unveiled a series of fiscal measures to punish polluting vehicles and bolster the fight against greenhouse gases.

”I am against any extra tax that would weigh on households and companies,” he said. ”There is no question of increasing the level of taxes.”

However, he pledged to tax trucks crossing France and revived an idea floated by his predecessor Jacques Chirac that would impose higher taxes on products imported from countries that did not respect the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.

He proposed lowering value added tax on more environmentally friendly products and pledged to consider wider changes later.

”Environmental fiscal measures should not be resumed in a collection of little taxes. We need a profound revision. The aim is to tax pollution, notably fossil energy more heavily and to tax work less,” he said.

”I’m committed to a general revision to our tax laws to consider the creation of a climate energy tax in exchange for a lightening of tax on labor to preserve our competitiveness.”

Sarkozy pledged to maintain France’s nuclear energy capacity, responsible for about 80 percent of its power output, but also promised to increase the proportion generated from renewable sources such as wind and solar energy.

He also announced a move to shift the millions of trucks that cross France away from highways and on to waterways and special cross-country trains, such as one launched this year between Luxembourg and Perpignan, near the Spanish border.

SOURCE: Reuters
AUTHOR: James Mackenzie
DATE: 25.10.2007
via GENET, Oct. 26, 2007