Action against genetically modified crops seems to have died down in the UK but has intensified in France, where the area planted with GMO corn has grown dramatically since last year. Although the exact figure is unknown, as farmers are not required to register their crops, it is estimated at 1,000 hectares.
Most such fields are in south-west France, some of them in the Landes, where GMO opponents struck again at the beginning of September. Under cover of darkness, they mowed down a 3,000 square metres parcel of land at Magesq belonging to the huge American biotechnology company, Monsanto.
The night reapers telephoned a local radio station and said they will continue their work in the dark in anticipation of the heavy fines certain to be imposed by Clermont-Ferrand’s criminal court on daytime protesters who were recently caught red-handed.
The Mayor of Begles, Noel Mamere,
joined the protest near Toulouse