GMO-free Germany

While the US has recently approved Monsanto’s genetically modified (GMO) sugar beets, Europe seems to be exercising a bit more caution. German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner has followed the lead of five fellow European nations by banning the cultivation of GMO maize, preventing nearly 9,000 acres from being harvested. France, Austria, Greece, Hungary, and Luxembourg have already outlawed Mon810, a variety of maize specifically bred to resist the corn borer, a moth larva that eats the stem of the plant. As the health and environmental side effects of GMO products have yet to be determined, European nations are justified in remaining wary of Monsanto’s methods.