My hats off to France! Long live the revolution! Okay, so I don’t even know what number of revolution we are on and I am most times more fond of the history of France in the 1st half of the Hundred Years War, when prior to Joan they were getting their butts kicked by the the English armies under Edward, Edward of Woodstock, and Henry. Beyond that I admit a fondness for the romantic imagery and notions, and of course from military history one has to appreciate the years under Bonaparte. The modern France though, well suffice it to say I generally disagree with the leadership there at most every turn.
However, this week France has surprised, much as Bush did this week too. You see, France was set to pass rules allowing a compromise on the importation, planting and usage of genetically modified corn. The compromise was suppose to be something along the lines of it would be allowed as long as any field having it was clearly marked and so many 100′s of meters away from any open pollinated varieties of corn. It was all but a done deal apparently, just requiring the stamp of approval a vote, if I understood things correctly.
In recent history though, France has been more then a little conservative toward the allowed usage of genetically modified seed of any sort. If I am correct, the only usage allowed is in scientific usage in very controlled environments.
Long story short, but the voted, despite the outcome being anticipated as a passage of and allowance of GM seed in the future under the strict regulations, ended in a tie. Which means it did NOT get enough support to pass. Which of course means that in this one case France can be held up as a bastion of what should be, compared to the United States where just about anything is allowed, including apparently based on testing, including plots close enough to allow cross pollination to have occurred.
** – Originally published on Mephistos on 17th of May 2008.