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

161441Z Dec 05

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 008505 
 
SIPDIS 
 
BRUSSELS PASS USEU FOR AGMINCOUNSELOR 
STATE FOR OES; EUR/ERA AND EB (SPIRNAK); 
STATE PASS USTR FOR MURPHY; 
USDA/OS/JOHANNS AND PENN; 
USDA/FAS FOR 
OA/TERPSTRA/ROBERTS/SIMMONS/RICHEY/JONES; 
ITP/SHEIKH/HENKE/MACKE/TOM POMEROY/MIKE 
WOOLSEY/GREG YOUNG; BOB RIEMENSCHNEIDER 
FAA/SEBRANEK/BLEGGI; 
EU POSTS PASS TO AGRICULTURE AND ECON 
GENEVA FOR USTR, ALSO AGRICULTURE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ETRD PGOV FR WTRO EUN
SUBJECT: Despite Obstacles French Corn Growers 
Will Plant Biotech Corn 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: Despite a recent judicial decision 
suspending jail sentences for 49 people found 
responsible for test plot destruction and the 
absence of a French law on coexistence of biotech 
and non-biotech crops, French corn growers are 
determined to continue planting biotech corn. 
They planted up to 1,000 hectares in 2005 and that 
area may well expand in 2006, obstacles 
notwithstanding. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. French farmers are increasingly interested in 
the agronomic and economic aspects of genetically 
modified corn.  Their interest is understandable 
for several reasons.  The insecticide Gaucho is no 
longer authorized for use in France on corn and 
the use of Bt corn can compensate for this. 
Further, some French corn growers, located 
primarily in the southern region of France near 
Spain were successful in selling their biotech 
corn harvest to Spanish buyers in 2005. 
 
¶3. Farmers expecting to plant biotech corn again 
in 2006 face several obstacles.  Of concern to 
these farmers is France's failure to provide 
national legislation regulating the coexistence of 
GM and non-GM crops and a French Court's recent 
suspension of penalties against activists caught 
destroying Monsanto's biotech test plots.  Biotech 
research has also been subject to significant 
budget reduction. 
 
¶4.  French legislation implementing EU 
biotechnology regulations, though recently signed 
by the Prime Minister, must still pass the Conseil 
d'Etat (State Council) review for Constitutional 
compatibility before a final vote by the 
Parliament is possible. Thus, it is difficult to 
gauge a timeframe when French farmers will have 
guidance on coexistence. Without clear rules, 
those planting biotech crops face risk of 
liability to some growers of conventional crops. 
 
¶5.  The French Parliament recently organized a 
meeting on biotechnology, where several 
Parliamentarians urged the French Government to 
present a national legislative framework for 
biotechnology.  The bill is expected to include a 
transcription into French law of the EU Directive 
2001/18, rules on coexistence and a reorganization 
of the national evaluation system for GMOs. 
 
¶6.  Another threat to French biotech farmers is 
the continued destruction of biotech crops and 
test plots by anti-biotech activists.  In France, 
open-field research on GM crops suffers from 
massive test plot destructions every year by 
activists (50 percent were destroyed in 2005), 
discouraging private companies and public research 
organizations from putting in place open field 
test plots.  Research institutions have cut their 
biotech budgets and lost talent to other countries 
with more favorable research conditions. 
 
¶7.  In a further blow to biotech research, the 
French Criminal Court of Orleans suspended the 3- 
month jail sentences of 49 people found 
responsible for destroying Monsanto's biotech test 
plots in 2004 and 2005.  Monsanto reacted to the 
decision with disappointment, reiterating that 
acts of destruction must be condemned, and that 
the right to conduct research must be 
acknowledged.  The public prosecutor's office and 
Monsanto will appeal the case. 
 
¶8.  The French planting seed industry (through a 
group of professional organizations) responded 
that the court's decision was not science-based 
and may have a significant impact on agriculture 
and plant biotech research in France.  They added 
that farmers must be allowed to benefit from 
biotechnology as a contribution to sustainable 
agriculture. 
 
Stapleton