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The French government has lost the latest round in its battle to maintain a ban on growing genetically-modified (GM) corn in France, but the new ruling is not the end of the story.

France's Council of State, which advises the government on legal issues and is the nation's highest administrative court of appeal, today upheld a September European Court of Justice ruling that found that France's 2008 prohibition against Monsanto's MON810 variety was out of line on procedural grounds. The council ruled that France's agriculture minister "has not provided the proof (that the corn) presents a major risk to human or animal health, or to the environment."