“News Dispatch – Friday night:  11 hectares of seed maize destroyed in Maine-et-Loire.”

·  After a number of incidents involving intruders destroying plots of Bt maize, culminating in the drama in Girac on August 5, ORAMA and its member field crop sectors, including the maize sector, spoke out forcefully, criticising the leniency shown to these vandal-reapers.  Local demonstrations by farmers (in the regions of Haute-Garonne, Ariège, Tarn and Garonne) calling for the law to be enforced, for private property to be respected and condemning offences to persons and property, were part of this approach.
 
·  The Government has made statements on these events;  quotations from some of these are given below:
 
- “On this issue, the Ministers also wish to recall that the State shall not tolerate any form of violence attacking property and/or persons.  To have a constructive debate on GMOs, all parties must give a commitment to respect the basic laws applying in a State of Law, without prejudice to rulings on any disputes already pending.”  Press release by Mr. Jean-Louis Borloo (Minister of Ecology) and Mr. Michel Barnier (Minister of Agriculture), dated August 5, 2007.
- “Michel Barnier, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, firmly condemns such illegal action targeting a crop grown with due authorisation under French and EU regulations.  He regrets that there has been yet another offence against private property.”  Press release, signed by Michel Barnier, dated August 16, 2007.
- “Michel Barnier and Valérie Pécresse [Minister of Higher Education] condemn the destruction of plots of land used for trials of genetically modified maize at La Sauvetat-sur-Garonne in the Gers region.”  Press release dated August 25, 2007.
 
·  Since these statements were released, showing, if only on paper, the determination of the government:
-         3 plots of maize were destroyed in the Ardèche region, on August 5 and September 2
-         1 plot of seed maize was destroyed in the Hérault region on August 16
-         2 plots being grown for trials were destroyed on August 18
-         1 plot planted with maize and 4 plots used for trials were destroyed in the Gers region on August 20
-         1 plot of maize was destroyed in the Ariège region on August 25
-         1 plot of maize was destroyed in the Aude region on September 2
-         11 hectares of seed maize were destroyed in the Maine-et-Loire region last weekend.
 
·  At the same time, the case of the destruction of a plot in the Haute-Garonne region in 2006 has been taken to court, with the farmer who was the victim of the attack suing the 30 reaper-vandals.  The hearing was only scheduled for March 27, 2007, and was then deferred as one of the persons charged was a candidate running in France’s presidential elections.  It has now been rescheduled for October 2, but, according to our sources, a proposal may be made by the public prosecutor, no doubt in response to a “request”, for a further deferment until 2008, pending the consultations and negotiations known as the “Grenelle de l’environnement” and designed to calm the level of debate.
 
 
The vandal-reapers are therefore being left to “sleep” peacefully or, more accurately, to destroy crops by night and sleep by day.  At the most they have had their photographs taken by police while destroying plants, and now they are being helped with repeated deferrals whenever a legal suit is filed.
 
Words, words, words… and surrender – that is basically the response by public authorities to manage this new form of law-breaking in the fields.  And while they’re at it, they can top it off by setting a moratorium on producing GMOs or, in a more underhand way, set impossible conditions for farming with them.  France will thus have quite knowingly made itself fall behind in technical, economic and scientific matters, and put itself in a position where it watches the advances of plant technology move past, beyond its reach.
 
Given this situation both unacceptable and dangerous for the future, maize growers are making a direct appeal to the President of the Republic, calling on him to take action and ensure that law and order are enforced. 
  
Contact :        Béatrice GUENEBEAUD –  01 47 23 48 32 
                      E-mail : beatrice.guenebeaud@agpm.com