Paris, Dec 11: France's Academy of Medicine today called for European countries to end their moratorium on genetically-modified (GM) crops, saying it saw no evidence that these plants were a danger to health. In June 1999, seven European Union (EU) countries imposed a four-year suspension on granting licences to grow new GM crops until issues of traceability and corporate liability had been resolved.
The academy said in a report that GM crops and their derivatives had been grown and eaten for around a decade, especially in the United States, and "no particular health problem has been detected."
GM food could be a boon for countries with fast-growing populations and marginal or shrinking farmland, it added.
"GM use has been a generally positive experience," it said.
The moratorium should be lifted, the report said, adding however the caveat that it was still essential to set up "permanent systems for evaluation and bio vigilance."
The French Academy of Sciences is to issue a report on GM safety on Friday.
Many western Europeans oppose GM crops, fearing they could be harmful to health or the environment.
The main argument put forward by environmentalists is that the technology is too recent to its assess long-term impacts.
Eating GM food may have an as-yet unknown effect, for instance, on people with allergies, and GM genes could be transferred to other plants through wind-borne pollination, it is claimed. Bureau Report