French Activists Destroy a Field
of Monsanto Frankencorn

Agence France Presse
August 22, 2001 French activists destroy GM crops grown by US company

BEAUCAIRE, France:

Some 150 anti-globalization militants raided a research farm in this
southern French town Wednesday destroying genetically modified crops being
grown by the US biotechnology giant Monsanto.

The militants, led by members of radical farmer Jose Bove's Peasants
Confederation and including women and children, destroyed a
1,000-square-meter (10,760 square feet) field of corn before dumping the
stalks in front of the local prefecture in nearby Nimes. The crops were
being grown by Monsanto to test the resistance of a weed-killer.
The militant action came after Bove, who has attained folk hero status in
France because of his anti-globalization campaign, issued a call in July
urging "civil disobedience" unless the government ordered the destruction of
all genetically modified crops being grown for test purposes by August 12.
Similar attacks as the one carried out Wednesday were expected in coming
days.

"Our aim is to launch a debate on the aim of research being done on
genetically modified crops," said Rene Louail, a spokesman for the Peasants
Confederation.

Bove in March was sentenced to a 10-month suspended prison term and fined
for destroying a field of genetically modified rice plants in 1999.
He was also given an eight-month suspended prison term in 1998 for a similar
attack.

The sheep farmer turned activist has justified his action as "a battle for
the future."