Good for GM

French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo is something of a power in the ruling party of President Nicolas Sarkozy,and is generally considered the third most powerful man in France. He did not get there,it appears,through being trusting. When news came this weekend that the European Commission intended to dilute its blanket ban on genetically modified foods instead letting its member states decide individually what they would prefer Borloo sniffed: We see a trap in this proposal which consists in calming everybody by letting each one do as they please.

Letting everybody do as they please would,of course,defeat the purpose of regulation. But what is intended by the European Union is to allow each of its constituent countries to decide its level of comfort with GM food. Theres a reason for this: Europe is deeply divided on the issue. Some countries,like Austria and France,dont like the idea at all; others,like the Netherlands and the UK,would rather go with the scientific evidence that says theres little thats wrong with it. Then theres a ruling,a few years ago from the World Trade Organisation,on a dispute between the EU and the US,that says that Europes curbs on GM food are anti-trade. The centralisers in the Brussels-based European Commission,fed up with all the competing pressures,seem to want to cede authority for once. But theres more to it than just that: the arguments for a blanket ban on GM foods are no longer as persuasive as they were a few years ago,as more and more scientific evidence piles up,and larger-scale trials are conducted.

When Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh went against scientific opinion and the expressed preferences of his cabinet colleagues to announce a moratorium on transgenic brinjal hybrids,one of the reasons stated was the European unwillingness to countenance GM foods. This was weak even at the time: Europes culture of sniffiness about processed foods is one India does not,and cannot,share. But now,like most of Rameshs other reasons,it has been revealed as completely hollow. Combined with a US Supreme Court ruling last week that,7-1,nullified a ban on GM alfalfa,the worlds stand on GM foods has just taken another turn towards acceptance. India cannot be left behind.