GMW: French anti-GM activists convicted on appeal

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GMW: French anti-GM activists convicted on appeal

" GM WATCH " <info

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 12:33:59 +0100

 

 

 

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French anti-GM activists convicted on appeal

News, June 27, 2006

 

PARIS (AFP) - A French court of appeal convicted 49 activists for

destroying a crop of genetically modified (GM) maize, quashing an earlier

court ruling which found their actions were justified.

 

Jean-Emile Sanchez, a leading member of the Small Farmers'

Confederation of anti-globalisation hero Jose Bove, was handed a

two-month jail

term, while the 48 others were given two-month suspended sentences.

 

State prosecutors had appealed after the activists -- who attacked two

fields of GM maize planted in France by the US biotechnology group

Monsanto, in 2004 and 2005 -- were cleared in December of charges of

organised vandalism.

 

The judge had ruled they were justified in ripping out the crops

because " the unbridled distribution of modified genes... constitutes a

clear

and present danger for the well-being of others " .

 

The initial verdict had been hailed by anti-GM activists as a major

victory in their battle against the spread of GMOs.

 

Sanchez -- who has been convicted twice before in similar cases --

denounced Tuesday's ruling as " a political decision " and vowed to

" continue

our fight " for a moratorium on GMOs and a popular referendum on their

use in France.

 

Sixty percent of the French are hostile to GMO crops, polls show, and

78 percent would back a temporary moratorium until their impact on

health and the environment is fully understood.

 

By general consensus, the early generation of GM plants -- mostly

maize, soya, cotton and colza (rape or canola) -- has so far had no

effect

on human health. [??? it would take years to establish that kind of

epidemiological pattern and there's been no monitoring that would

allow the

collection of appropriate data - ed]

 

But environmentalists say too little time has elapsed to assess their

long-term impact -- a concern shared by many scientists who fear genes

inserted in GM crops will contaminate other species through wind-borne

pollen.

 

news.

 

 

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