US embassy cable - 05PARIS3922

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.) 
 
 
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.