MON 810 is a variety of genetically modified maize (corn) developed by Monsanto Company and marketed with the trade name YieldGard. It contains a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis that expresses a toxin (Bt toxin) poisonous to some pest insects, such as the European Corn Borer.[1] It was approved for use in the European Union in 1998, but since then, several countries (Austria, Hungary, Greece, France, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Germany) have banned its use due to concerns that it causes environmental damage. Until it was banned in April 2009, MON 810 was the only GM crop that could be cultivated commercially in Germany.[2]
A 2010 systematic review in the journal Transgenic Research, which reviewed several previously published meta-analyses and recent studies, concluded that the German decision to ban MON 810 was "scientifically unjustified." The authors claim that substantial evidence cited in their review is biased towards total eco-system effects and the German decision should have been based on a "case-by-case approach" and uses an incomplete list of references. [1] The authors of this review also criticized the French ban and its political circumstances in an ISB[nb 1] News Report.[3] As revealed in the WikiLeaks cables, after the French banned the variety, Craig Stapleton, the US ambassador to France recommended that "we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU".[4][5]
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