NOTE: Below is another article on the story that broke on 8 March about Monsanto threatening to sue the European Food Safety Authority for publishing the data used to render an opinion in favour of authorizing the marketing of its GM maize NK603.
Our comment is here:
http://gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14684
The article below features a comment by Corinne Lepage, who, as well as being a Member of the European Parliament, is also a lawyer. She says Monsanto is unlikely to succeed in any legal challenge because European law provides for transparency of data relating to human health and the environment.
Incidentally, we are not surprised that Monsanto wants to hide its data. The Monsanto dossier (downloadable from the EFSA website) makes plain the poor quality 'science' that goes into an application to authorise a GMO.
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GMOs: Monsanto wants to attack EFSA in the courts
Le Monde (France) with AFP
8 Mar 2013
GMWatch translation from the French original at:
http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2013/03/08/ogm-monsanto-veut-attaquer-l-efsa-en-justice_1845469_3234.html
U.S. multinational Monsanto is threatening to sue the European Food Safety Authority for publishing the data used to render an opinion in favour of authorizing the marketing of its GM maize NK603.
Liberal MEP Corinne Lepage, former Minister of Ecology, denounced Monsanto's desire to "maintain omerta [Mafia code of silence] on the raw data of GMOs". "This transparency on the raw data is not only legitimate but also perfectly legal, since [a European law] precludes confidentiality of studies relating to the impact on health and the environment of GMOs," she said. "This desire for transparency on the part of EFSA is a step in the right direction and I encourage EFSA and Europe to require that all data and studies [supporting] the placing on the market of GMOs are made public."
GM NK603
Director General of the agency, Geslain-Laneelle, decided on January 14 to place online all data used by EFSA to deliver its opinion in favor of authorizing GMO maize marketing NK603, denounced by French scientist Gilles-Eric Seralini.
"Through this program, EFSA will help scientists from different fields of expertise to develop research to enrich the body of scientific literature and to offer valuable new perspectives that can be integrated into risk assessment," she added.
The evaluation process for applications for authorization of cultivation and marketing of GMOs is conducted in four phases: consultation of EFSA on health hazards, request for authorisation in the member states on the basis of a favorable opinion from EFSA, appeal procedure if no qualified majority emerges between member states. If this situation continues, the final decision rests with the European Commission. To date, EFSA has never issued a negative opinion on a GMO and no qualified majority was ever found among member states to ban GMOs.