January 17, 2012

France's beekeepers appeal to ban GM corn

In an attempt to protect the right of honey bee farmers to produce honey, French beekeepers and farmers' trade union Confederation Paysanne are appealing an immediate ban on field trials of genetically modified (GM) corn in France.

In September, European authorities banned the sale in Europe of honey containing traces of US Monsanto's GM pollen. At the same time, they attacked the legality of the French ban on the production of Monsanto's GM corn for procedural faults.

The beekeepers, who met on Friday representatives of the French agriculture and ecology ministries, said that in 2012 French honey bees farmers will be in the same situation of their Spanish peers, who cannot sell their honey, Olivier Belval, president of the French union of honey bees' farmers, said.