Posted on behalf of Barbara Casassus.
French scientists are up in arms over the recent court acquittal of 54 activists who destroyed 70 experimental genetically modified (GM) grapevines in eastern France in August 2010.
Twelve leading research agencies and university organizations released a joint statement on Monday expressing their “serious concern” over the consequences of the Colmar Appeal Court’s decision to throw out the case, and urging clarification of the relevant laws and regulations.
The statement noted that “the protection of experiments in controlled conditions is no longer assured”, and this was the first court ruling since the law increased the ceiling on sanctions for destroying non-commercial experimental crops. More than 200 public meetings were held on the trials, which were conducted by French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) to test for protection against court-noué, the grapevine fanleaf virus.
The court described the greenhouse field trials as illegal because INRA had not proved that the vines would cause no health or environmental damage. The daily newspaper Le Figaro quotes the defendants’ lawyerJérôme Bouquet-Elaïm as saying “our position is not to condemn research” but to stop scientists from not respecting the right procedures.
The defendants were initially given a two-month suspended prison sentence in 2011, and were ordered to pay €57,000 (US$78,000) in damages to INRA, which they have since done.
Higher education and research secretary of state Geneviève Fioraso told the National Assembly, or lower house of parliament, today that she endorsed the research organizations’ joint statement. “It is important in a spirit of scientific progress and risk control that circumscribed research can be carried out in all safety,” she said during government question time. Failing that, “we risk discouraging research”, she said.
The case is not over, however, as the public prosecutor has taken the case to the Court of Cassation, France’s highest criminal and civil appeal court. @ Uproar as anti-GM activists acquitted in France : Nature News Blog:
See also
Jugement de Colmar : le fiasco de la sociologie postmoderne à l'Inra (et ailleurs) (Marcel Kuntz)
La Cour d’Appel de Colmar a relaxé le 14 mai 2014 les prévenus condamnés en première instance pour avoir détruit un essai OGM scientifique non marchand de l’Inra en août 2010. Il s’agissait d’une expérimentation sur une vigne où seul le porte-greffe était transgénique (vigne développée à l'origine pour étudier sa résistance au virus responsable de la maladie du court-noué) et l'essai en question visait à étudier l'interaction entre transgène et environnement. Le saccage de l’essai en 2010 avait été condamné par les ministres Pécresse et Le Maire....
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