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

151739Z Feb 06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 000984 
 
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: French Conclusions to WTO Panel Decision 
on Ag Biotechnology 
 
REF: PARIS 000506 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: While there was no official reaction 
by the GOF to the recently announced WTO interim 
panel decision on the biotech case, the national 
press covered the issue widely.  The French 
biotech bill was presented to the Council of 
Ministers the day after the WTO ruling was 
released, fueling criticism by anti-biotech 
lobbyists. The ruling of the WTO is considered in 
France to present additional pressure for French 
policy makers to pass the biotech bill.  Other 
pressures include significant fines levied by the 
EC due to France's delay in transposing EU 
Directives and impending national elections in 
¶2007.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. The French popular and agricultural press 
widely covered agricultural biotechnology in 
response to the preliminary conclusion of the WTO 
and the introduction of the French biotech bill 
(REFTEL).  While the WTO decision was released on 
February 7, the French biotech bill was presented 
to the French Council of Ministers on February 8. 
 
¶3.  While there was no official French government 
reaction to the WTO panel decision, 
environmentalists have been very vocal.  Most of 
their approach consisted of dismissing the 
importance of the WTO panel decision.  Friends of 
the Earth commented that the European Union should 
not respect the WTO decision since the WTO is not 
an international court of justice and its 
decisions are not based on international law. The 
farmers' union Confdration Paysanne (with whom 
Jos Bov was affiliated) said France doesn't have 
to comply with the WTO decision and they would 
rather have France pay financial sanctions than 
produce biotech crops.  For Greenpeace, the recent 
WTO decision is a "desperate way for agrochemical 
companies and the USG to supply new markets with 
potentially dangerous GM products that nobody 
wants." 
 
¶4.  Another tactic of anti-biotech groups was to 
allege that biotech products are harmful.  A full- 
page article was published in the daily newspaper 
Le Monde alleging a negative impact of biotech 
products on the health of animals raised on them. 
Several newspapers also published the results of a 
poll conducted by the French poll institute BVA 
for the environmentalist organization Agir pour 
l'Environnement (Action for the Environment), 
t), 
according to which 78 percent of the French polled 
support a temporary ban of GMOs to evaluate their 
impact on health and on the environment. 
 
¶5.  The French farm community (other than anti- 
biotech activists) did not officially react to the 
WTO interim decision.  However, the largest French 
farmers union FNSEA, the young farmers' union 
(Jeunes Agriculteurs), the Chambers of Agriculture 
and the Planting Seed Industry Organization (GNIS) 
generally welcomed the presentation of the French 
biotech bill, hoping that when implemented it will 
finally provide a clear framework for 
experimentation and production of biotech crops in 
France.  On the other hand, the Socialist party 
was in line with the anti-biotech activists and 
critical of the bill. 
 
¶6.  All stakeholders expect 2006 will be a 
difficult but important year for agricultural 
biotechnology in France. Discussions at the French 
Parliament on the biotech bill are likely to be 
tough and long, as Parliamentarians will be under 
pressure as a result of the WTO ruling, the 
enormous fees France will have to pay to the EU 
Commission if the European Directives are not 
transposed into national law, active 
environmentalists, industry and farm lobbies in 
favor of biotech production, and major national 
political deadlines (with both French Presidential 
and legislative elections to take place in spring 
2007). 
 
 
Stapleton