French parliament kicks off debate on new GMO law

By Tamora Vidaillet

PARIS (Reuters) - France's parliament began a long-awaited debate on Tuesday on a proposed new law governing genetically modified crops that is contested fiercely by green groups and ecologists.

Parliamentarians from the National Assembly will thrash out proposals approved by the Senate in early February before casting votes towards the end of the week.

Second readings within both the upper and lower house are likely before the government passes the law later in the year.

Environment minister Jean-Louis Borloo said the law's aim was not to decide on whether GMOs could be used or not -- a decision which ultimately lies with the European Union -- but how related issues should be governed.

"We must be lucid and conscious to escape 10 years of side-stepping and confusion, 10 years during which the actual situation of agricultural biotechnology was a situation not governed by law," he said.

Europe demands that member states formulate domestic laws on GMO use as early as 2001, but France has dragged its feet amid deep divisions over the issue.

Borloo described the pending law as an act of "courage and faith" as it would lay the parameters for the safe use of biotechnology going forward.

The proposed text suggested real progress for potentially securing greater use of GMOs, French Farm Minister Michel Barnier said.