Reuters | August 14, 2001
PARIS - Activists opposed to genetically modified (GM) food have struck again in France, tearing up three plots of land where bio-engineered maize was being grown on a test basis, industry groups said on Tuesday.
Seed and plant protection industry organisations said they were "shocked" after the activists destroyed the GM maize tests in the Drome department in southeast France.
A group calling itself "Limes A Grain" -- a play on the name of French seed company Limagrain -- claimed responsibility for the attack that took place on Friday night, the plant organisations said.
It was at least the third such incident since late June, when the farm ministry was forced to publish the list of districts in France where GM crops were being tested.
Philippe Gracien, head of the French seed profession group GNIS, said he expected further attacks.
Gracien said he feared the left-wing Confederation Paysanne farmers' union, which has targeted GM crops in the past, was planning a new push to destroy test fields.
"Unfortunately, when one listens to the speeches of the Confederation Paysanne leaders, it's hard to remain calm," Gracien told Reuters.
Jose Bove, the fiery founder of the Confederation Paysanne, demanded on Saturday a complete ban on GM crops in France and threatened to begin uprooting test fields across the country if the government did not intervene.
In March, a French court gave Bove a 10-month suspended jail sentence and two years' probation for destroying GM rice plants at a research institute in June 1999.
Two months earlier, Bove and other anti-globalisation activists helped uproot some three hectares of GM soybeans at an experimental farm in Brazil operated by American life sciences firm Monsanto.
