The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has rejected France's attempt to restrict the cultivation of Monsanto's strain of genetically modified maize, with the EU food safety agency ruling that there are no particular scientific evidences to prove that the insect-resistant strain is toxic to either health or the environment.
EFSA said that the scientific evidence provided by France in its new submission in January had already been included in its 2008 submission and no further scientific assessments have been taken up since then to suggest that the genetically modified strain is a risk to the environment.
Monsanto markets MON 810 maize under YieldGuard brand. MON 810 maize was genetically modified to include DNA from a bacteria. In 2008, the French government imposed a ban on MON 810 following public protests against the GM maize, but this ban was reversed by a French court in 2011. However, in March 2012, the government once again imposed the ban, saying that it has taken the initiative to safeguard the environment.
