By Muriel Boselli, BridgeNews

Paris--July 7--Despite repeated statements by the French
government that it would decide whether 3,000 hectares of maize
containing genetically modified material planted in southwest
France should be destroyed, no news has yet emerged. The
government seems stuck between the will to please a public
widely against GMOs and the likelihood of criticism from the seed
industry, since the government knew about the situation since
February, before planting was done.

* * *

Other factors may include costs and consistency with the
precedent set when the government recently ordered 600
hectares of GMO rapeseed crops destroyed.

Food Safety Minister Marylise Lebranchu first said a decision
would be made public by June 30. However, rumors suggest that
it could have been put off because of the highly publicized trial of
anti-globalization and anti-GMO farm activist Jose Bove, held in
Millau (southwest France), which attracted up to 100,000
supporters.

"If the government had then announced that they wouldn't order
the destruction of the crops, the crowd could have turned out
angry and embarrassed the government," a source said.

Then Wednesday, Lebranchu repeated that a decision would be
announced Thursday afternoon after a private inter-ministerial
meeting. However, she warned that if the verification tests were
unable to identify the third GMO then the decision would be
delayed. Thursday afternoon a source close to the government
informed BridgeNews that the meeting had been cancelled.

Also, a report issued Thursday by a Member of Parliament from
the French greens party Les Verts, Marie-Helene Aubert, calling
on France to use its presidency of the European Union to "ban
genetically-modified organisms resistant to antibiotics" possibly
came in the way of an announcement. Indeed, one of the GM
varieties found in the maize planted in the southwest is resistant
to antibiotics.

A source close to the maize producers said if the government
decides to destroy the crop, it would be a political decision as
opposed to a technical one. "The government has known for
months about the maize and it would therefore be completely
hypocritical if they destroyed it now," the source said.

"When the government learned that the maize seed contained
GM material in February they didn't even judge the matter
important enough to inform the public about it," he added. "Also,
the maize is now flowering so if the government destroyed the
crop now it would be too late anyway to use the environmental
excuse," the source said.

Another aspect is that destroying the crop could cost the
government a hefty sum. Indeed, because of the lack of
regulation, seedsmen argue they have done nothing legally
wrong since there is currently no official GM content threshold for
seed.

However, the seed sector has been pressing for a GMO threshold
of 1% amid the lack of any rule on the subject. Also, contrarily to
the Advanta case, the seed importer Golden Harvest--which
imported the maize seed from the United States--did not come
forward with the findings but were found out by the General
Direction for Competition, Consumerism and the Repression of
Fraud. This could mean that they would not participate in a
possible compensation scheme.

The government appears basically stuck and doesn't know where
to turn, since all the obvious directions involve seemingly
insurmountable obstacles. Delaying a decision may be the
government's favored option for now. End [Begin BridgeLinks]

Muriel Boselli, BridgeNews, Tel: +331-44-88-43-91

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