International
Herald
Tribune

Prime Minister Lionel Jospin also announced, however, a two-year moratorium on sales of genetically altered rapeseed and similar varieties that involved greater risk to the environment because of the high possibility of cross-fertilization with other plants.

The decision is a victory for the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Monsanto and German agrochemical company AgrEvo, now cleared for sale in France and, consequently, the rest of Europe.

The United States has blamed France for holding up corn exports worth $300 million a year to Spain and Portugal by not approving the two new varieties. Under European Union rules, French approval was needed before the corn could be sold in any of the EU's 15 member states.

AgrEvo will, however, be disappointed by France's refusal to approve herbicide-resistant rapeseed that also emerged from its labs. It promises farmers greater productivity.

Ecologists had argued that genetic varieties of plants like rapeseed were especially risky to the environment because their seeds are more easily spread by the wind.