France has bent a vigorous battle ground against genetically modified (GM) foods. The international peasants' organization, "La Via Campensina" (literally, "Peasant Life") has been fighting GM crops vigorously in France and elsewhere. They have gone to jail for burning GM crops in France, organized marches, informed the public and brought court actions. Earlier this month, they organized a hunger strike in France. The only GM crop approved for use in France thus far has been Monsanto's Yield Guard Corn, 810 Maize, which is genetically modified to produce a pesticide similar to the one which the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis produces. Although the compound produced by the GM corn Monsanto 810 is billed as identical to the natural pesticide product is not. The idea is to kill the corn borer by making the whole plant poisonous. Really poisonous. Um, people eat the plant even though it was approved for use as an animal feed. People also then eat the new DNA and it gets into our own DNA. Animals, insects and bacteria also eat the pant. Isn't there something wrong with this picture?

Codex established the methods of analysis, laying the groundwork for the global approval of Monsanto 810 Maize in the 24th Session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS)/AD HOC Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived From Biotechnology, Budapest, November 2002., ftp://ftp.fao.org/codex/ccmas24/ma02_08e.pdf.

That is, of course, not much of a surprise. Like the FDA, Codex apparently never met a GM food it did not love. There certainly is not much to love about this destructive food. Remember, the FDA does not look for safety when companies apply to bring their GM food to market. It does not even look AT safety data since it does not review or carry out safety studies. No, is a patent. And the FDA actively forbids labeling foods accurately if they contain GM components! Consumers would reject food if they knew that it was GM, said Dr. Barbara Schneeman of the FDA at last year's meeting of the Codex Working Group on the labeling of Foods Derived from Biotechnology. Therefore, she continued, when pressed to explain the US ban on accurate labeling, since the FDA has made the administrative decision that GM foods are the same as non GM ones, telling the public the truth would be "false and misleading"!

As far as Codex is concerned, the GM corn, Monsanto 810 Maize, which produces 1500-3000 times more Cry1AB toxin than the safe natural bacterial toxin, is perfectly fine for use. And, until this week when France basically used our Codex Two Step* approach, France had said it was fine, too!


Of course it is not safe for the livestock that eat it, the people that eat the livestock, the bacteria in the people's gut or in the soil, nor is it safe for insects. To read the outstanding and important letter which a group of New Zealand scientists sent to the Prime Minister of New Zealand in 2004 urging extreme caution in approving any GM foods in New Zealand, click here (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?p=500) .

* The Codex Two Step is the legal strategy we developed that lets countries opt out of Codex restrictions. See www.globalhealthfreedom.org  for details.