France's Biogemma to sue after GM crop uprooted
Date: 30-Aug-01
Country: FRANCE
The privately held company said it would file a lawsuit against as-yet unnamed parties after GM crop foes wielding scythes and hedge-clippers destroyed a field of experimental maize at Cleon d'Andran in southeast France.
Biogemma, owned by the seed groups Limagrain and Euralis Semences and the financial arms of the French grain and oilseed producers' groups, bitterly denounced the militants and demanded increased protection of the country's remaining GM crop tests.
"Coming after the sacking of a trial for medical research, the destruction of our parcel in Cleon d'Andran no longer allows (GM crop foes) to hide behind their opportunistic alibi of fighting big multinationals," Biogemma said in a statement.
"Instead, it shows a deliberate desire to harm the biotechnology research capacities of France's main independent seed companies and the farming organisations that share stakes in Biogemma," the company said.
Sunday's attack marked the fifth such incident since late June, when the French farm ministry was forced to publish the list of districts that were home to open-air tests of genetically engineered plants.
The latest attacks were led by the left-wing Confederation Paysanne farm union, which was making good on its threat earlier this month to begin uprooting GM crop tests if the government did not ban them.
Jean-Christophe Gouache, scientific director at Limagrain, said the maize being tested in Cleon d'Andran was designed to create maize plants that did not self-pollinate in the seed production field, thereby lowering costs.
"As with any research work, we had different locations where this project was being conducted. But who knows in what shape they will be in tomorrow?" Gouache told Reuters.