From AP News:
The French government on Saturday suspended the use of genetically modified corn crops in France while it awaits EU approval for a full ban. The order formalized France’s announcement Jan. 11 that it would suspend cultivation of Monsanto’s MON810, the seed for the only type of genetically modified corn now allowed in the country.

This good news regarding GM corn — increasingly recognized as something with limited utility, unexpected consequences, and uncertain dangers — is tempered by bad news from Brazil:

One of the varieties authorized was a pest-resistant crop called MON 810 by its maker, the US biotech company Monsanto, and marketed under the names Guardian and YieldGard.

It was officially banned in France last weekend amid concerns that it could have an effect on insects, a species of earthworm and micro-organisms. (from AFP: Brazil authorizes genetically modified crops)

Hard to locate much background on the politics, at least online, especially regarding the Brazilian choice. If anyone has background, do post, please.

The PostApocaDocs were relatively agnostic about GM corn, and GM in general — until we learned of “Gene Flow,” which is part of the dance of plants in nature.

One concern associated with genetic engineering is “gene flow”–that is, the movement of genes from one organism to another. As a part of their normal reproductive cycle, plants transmit their DNA to other compatible plants via pollen. Genes from fields of crop plants can be transmitted by pollination to plants in the same or other fields, or in some cases even to other closely-related non-crop plants. (from Cornell Public Information, Horizontal Gene Transfer)

We also paid attention to the way in which most GM experiments are undertaken — frequently a shotgun, random-chance way of literally shooting shards of DNA into cells, and then seeing what happens. This may explain some of the “unintended consequences.”

In the end, we have concluded that until much better scientific understanding of GM crops on the consequences on human and non-human life, we should take the industries’ blandishments regarding the benefits with a pound of salt. And we should have much better oversight.

Shouldn’t we have the EPA paying close, close attention to human and environmental health, kind of like the FDA, for this sort of thing, independent of the multibillions involved?