Rapeseed: The Anses asks to reinforce the monitoring of GMOs
by Christophe NOISETTE
Date of publication : 7 February 2023 (original article in french : 20 january 2023)
In February 2022, Inf’OGM discovered transgenic rapeseed growing illegally in the port area of Grand-Couronne (near Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France). In July 2022, despite measures taken by the Ministry of Agriculture, new GMO rapeseed plants were found in the same area. The association also discovered transgenic rapeseed in Sète (Hérault, France). In both cases, the Saipol factory, which imports rapeseed to make agrofuels, seems to be responsible for this contamination. The Anses has just published an opinion and asks to reinforce the monitoring of GMOs in the environment. Will the ministry implement these recommendations?
After discovering transgenic rapeseed plants in February 2022 [1], Inf’OGM alerted the Ministry of Agriculture, which then asked the Anses (Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail) to conduct an expertise [2] [3]. On Friday 20 January 2023, the Anses published its opinion [4].
First of all, the Anses opinion tells us that “the control services of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty took samples on 19 and 29 April 2022, which were analysed by the BioGEVES laboratory […]. These analyses have confirmed the presence of genetically modified rapeseed in the environment mentioned above”. Indeed, out of 16 samples taken in the port area of Rouen, 14 were found to be positive. The opinion also states that “as a result, at the beginning of May 2022, a destruction of rapeseed plants by mechanical means (mowing, brush cutting) was requested by the DGAl from the public establishment HAROPA Port, in charge of the maintenance of the industrial port area (excluding industrial sites). It was planned to repeat this operation every month, to avoid that the possible regrowths flower and so that they do not produce pollen or seeds which could germinate in the long term”.
We note from this opinion that the Ministry of Agriculture and the Anses were only interested in the port area of Rouen, whereas Inf’OGM had stated that it had discovered transgenic rapeseed in Sète.
The Anses opinion underlines that… => to read the full article, see www.infogm.org/7651