Europe's top food safety agency said on Friday that France's ban on a genetically modified maize [corn] developed by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto was unjustified.
Monsanto's MON 810 is the only GM crop grown in the European Union, unlike in the United States and Latin America, where they are more common. Many European countries doubt the safety of using the genetic technology in agriculture.
"No specific scientific evidence, in terms of risk to human and animal health and the environment, was provided that would justify the invocation of a safeguard clause," the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said in an opinion released on its website. The EFSA is based in Parma, Italy.
France suspended the use of MON 810 earlier this year, invoking a so- called safeguard clause against the European Commission's decision to authorize the GM maize.
The French government said it had serious doubts about whether Mon 810 maize was safe for the environment.
However, the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMO) has remained legal. The European Commission, which monitors food safety and implementation of EU food standards across the bloc's 27 member countries, had requested the opinion from the EFSA.
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