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Cablegate: Jose Bove Calls for More Destruction of Biotech

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 003922

SIPDIS

STATE ALSO FOR EB/TPP, EUR/ERA, AND EUR/WE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR ETRD TBIO SENV FR
SUBJECT: JOSE BOVE CALLS FOR MORE DESTRUCTION OF BIOTECH
TEST PLOTS

1. (SBU) Summary: Anti-biotech organizations backing
activist Jos Bove have proclaimed June 18 as a day of
protest against genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and
have threatened to destroy all open-field testing plots of
GM products in France. This call is in response to a
National Assembly report on biotechnology that should serve
as a precursor to French legislation implementing the EU
biotechnology directive (2001/018). The report, whose
conclusions call for a "pause" in biotechnology testing and
experimentation, was issued in April 2005. GOF officials
anticipate that like last year, more than half of the trial
plots will likely be vandalized. End summary.

Call to Action
--------------

2. (SBU) In response to a National Assembly group
biotechnology report issued in April, a coalition of
environmental groups opposed to GM products has put forth a
call to destroy open field trials again this year. At the
hearing of the report's publication, French activist Jose
Bove told parliamentarians that he and his NGO allies would
continue to destroy test plots. Although the parliamentary
report proposed a temporary stop to open-field trials, it
seems to indicate that experiments with previously approved
GM-derived crops may be exempt from this "pause". Yet
groups that have coalesced around activist Jos Bove want
the decision to stop field trials to be respected
universally. As firm opponents of biotech products, Bove and
his sympathizers have threatened to destroy all 2005 test
plots. (Note: Bove was arrested and convicted for
destruction of GMOs test plots in 2003. End Note.)

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3. (SBU) During the visit by American Soybean Association
representatives, Ministry of Agriculture officials confirmed
that they anticipate destruction of close to two-thirds of
open-field experimentation plots, a significant increase
from previous years. Picking the date of the historic De
Gaulle speech to the French resistance in 1940, Bove has
proclaimed June 18 as a day of protest against GMOs. Groups
like Friends of the Earth have indicated they want this anti-
biotech effort to go beyond French borders to the European
community as a whole.

Assemblee Nationale Report on biotech
-------------------------------------
4. (U) A French National Assembly working group on
biotechnology released its final report on April 14, 2005,
finding no additional health risk for GMO products, and
recommending a budget increase for research on
biotechnology. The parliamentary staff that drafted the
report visited the United States to research the subject,
and met with USG officials and private industry. The French
government has long advocated increased spending on research
as part of its commitment to the EU Lisbon process. The
report also recommends a pause in all open-field
experimentation of genetically modified products until
spring 2006. In spite of the recommended pause in open
field tests and experimentation, the report makes the
following conclusions:

- Health and environmental findings: The report finds no
additional health risk from genetically modified products.
Moreover, the group foresees potential health benefits from
some biotech products. However, the consequences for the
environment are ambiguous. While GM-derived products entail
reduced pesticide use, the consequences of such products on
biodiversity are still undetermined. Thus, the report
recommends the establishment of buffer zones around biotech
crops. The report also endorses the European Union 0.9
percent threshold for the "technically unavoidable" or
adventitious presence of biotech material in planting seeds.
(Note: there has been no political agreement, thus far, on
any GM threshold in planting seeds and the French industry
in calling for an EU regulation. End Note.)

- Legal issues: Regarding legal issues of biotech crops,
the working group report advocates an assumption of cross-
contamination responsibility by the biotech growers. A back-
up compensation fund created by the government and
biotechnology industry would cover extreme cases of
adventitious presence.

- Approvals: a two-committee system is proposed to evaluate
biotechnology products. This new system would replace the
current system based on a scientific committee only. In
this way, the voices of scientists as well as those of civil
society members are heard during the review process.
Finally, the working group proposes the creation of an
independent authority charged with informing regional
governments and the public of any biotech field tests.

- Patent protection: The report also calls for the
utilization of the European system of plant variety
protection (Certificat d'Obtention Vegetale) as opposed to
the patent system for biotechnology crops before
international organizations like the WTO and CODEX.

Comment: legislation delayed
-----------------------------
5. (SBU) This report's recommendations function as a
forerunner of the French comprehensive biotechnology law.
Preparation of the legislation is on its way but a bill is
not expected to be submitted to the French Parliament vote
before October 2005. French translation of EU directive
2001/18 is therefore delayed until at least fall 2005.

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