www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Supporters and opponents of genetically modified (GM) technology have found
new grounds of confrontation on the Internet, as the government launched an
online consultation forum intended for a wide public audience about new
outdoor field tests scheduled this year, May 2006 by Paule Bonjean
translated by Sylviane Bévant and Stephan Nyeki.

Seventeen new applications, mainly for the experimental transgenic
cultivation of corn, have been submitted by seeds firms, amongst which are
Monsanto and Pioneer.

A source close to the ministry regrets that the consultation forum, launched
at the Ministry of Agriculture website from the 14th to the 28th of April,
had to be prolonged until the 5th of May, due to a demonstration by anti-GM
protesters.

A large number of people mobilised themselves and sent anti-GM petitions to
the website. The consultation forum had to be prolonged to make it available
to a larger audience.

Thirty thousand people sent their opinions to the website this year, in
contrast to only 2451 in 2005. One fear is that these petitions distort the
relevance of the consultation forum on which the government bases its
opinion.

The Ministry of Agriculture defined that the authorisation procedure,
created by an Expert Commission on biomolecular science, is also based on
scientific conclusions from a technical feasibility study.

The minister, Dominique Bussereau, will make a decision on these new
programs within ten days, after agreement with his colleague Nelly Olin.

Of the seventeen applications, fifteen concern transgenic corn with insect
resistance, one concerns an application for the treatment of mucoviscidose,
and another concerns transgenic tobacco.

The government council has cancelled two applications.

In 2005, the ministry accepted the complete research program, composed of
eleven new tests.

Despite government assurances on systematic controls at various stages of
plant development, the anti-GM movement has not been disarmed.

According to seed producers, the activists have demonstrated up to last
summer by wilful cutting, destroying almost half of the test fields each
year.

In 2006, the tenfold increase in transgenic corn cultivation for commercial
purposes pushed GM-opponents to direct their fight upstream.

Several seed producers complained about the pressures exerted on farmers for
large-scale transgenic corn production. Up to 5000 hectares are to be sown
this year in France, compared to 493 last year and 17 in 2004.

Strengthened by this advance, even if it remains marginal compared to the 3
million hectares of corn in all of France, cereal producers are confident.

At the end of April, some bravely faced the ban that had been imposed on
them, and did not hesitate to show their sown crops in front of a large
media presence, which are intended for the Spanish market.

On the other hand, the anti-GM fight is intensifying, and elected officials
and associations are increasingly choosing the legal path.

On Thursday, the administrative court of Clermont-Ferrand cancelled two
applications for transgenic cultivation tests, submitted in April 2005 for
medical purposes.

On April the 28th, the Council of State had already given right to the
General Council of the ?Landes? department, which had asked in 2004 to
cancel two applications for transgenic corn tests. The courts condemned the
State to pay 3000 Euros to the ?Landes? department.

[today.reuters.fr]

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