Brussels, November 8, 1999
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) will hold a hearing on Tuesday, November 9, 1999, in Luxembourg on the French revocation of the market licence of genetically engineered Bt-maize produced by Novartis. The case was referred to the ECJ in December 1998 after the French Conseil d'Etat had suspended the market approval of the maize.
The French Conseil d'Etat suspended the market approval of the maize after Greenpeace challenged it on the grounds that the French approval procedure was invalid. According to Greenpeace the precautionary principle has been breached since neither environmental nor health risks had been adequately assessed. French farming organisation Confederation Paysanne and a French environmental organisation Ecoropa have later joined the challenge.
The Conseil d'Etat referred the case to the ECJ to find out whether the French government could revoke the market approval against the EU wide approval. If the ECJ finds that French government indeed has jurisdiction on the case, it will be returned to the Conseil d'Etat, which needs to take the final decision on Greenpeace's complaint.
The GE crop challenged by Greenpeace is engineered to produce its own pesticide against the European corn borer, to be tolerant to the herbicide glufosinate ammonium and contains an antibiotic resistance gene.
Arnaud Apoteker, Greenpeace GE campaigner in France said, "The release of GMOs into the environment can do untold damage to crops, to biodiversity, to the human health and animals, and to the farming communities. This hearing is an important step in questioning the whole process of placing these products on the market."
The public hearing will be held at Court of Justice of European Community, (Plateau de Kirchberg, Boulevard Konrad Adenauer, L-2925 Luxembourg, phone: +352 - 4303-1) at 9.30 am on the November 9, 1999.
Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace press office on: 020 7865 8255
