French Farmer Calls Off Hunger Strike

PARIS (AP) — Mil­i­tant French farmer Jose Bove and about 15 sup­port­ers called off their hunger strike in its eighth day after the gov­ern­ment ordered the sus­pen­sion of the use of genet­i­cal­ly mod­i­fied corn Fri­day.

PARIS (AP) — Mil­i­tant French farmer Jose Bove and about 15 sup­port­ers called off their hunger strike in its eighth day after the gov­ern­ment ordered the sus­pen­sion of the use of genet­i­cal­ly mod­i­fied corn Fri­day.

France will sus­pend cul­ti­va­tion of MON810, the seed for the only type of genet­i­cal­ly mod­i­fied corn now allowed in the coun­try, until a Euro­pean Union review is con­duct­ed, Prime Min­is­ter Fran­cois Fil­lon’s office said.

The move was based on a rec­om­men­da­tion this week by a gov­ern­ment-appoint­ed pan­el call­ing for ‘the need for addi­tion­al analy­ses on the health and envi­ron­men­tal effects of the genet­i­cal­ly mod­i­fied prod­uct MON810 in the long term,’ Fil­lon’s office said in a state­ment.

Bove and his sup­port­ers began the hunger strike Jan. 3, say­ing they hoped to pres­sure the gov­ern­ment to make good on a promise in Novem­ber to sus­pend cul­ti­va­tion of MON810. He said they only drank water or unsweet­ened tea dur­ing the protest.

The seed, which resists some types of insects, was autho­rized before a gov­ern­ment-ordered mora­to­ri­um on genet­i­cal­ly mod­i­fied prod­ucts took effect in 1999. Last year, it was plant­ed in about 54,000 acres in France — main­ly in south­ern farm­land.

Bove rose to fame in August 1999 when he and sup­port­ers used farm equip­ment to dis­man­tle a McDon­ald’s branch under con­struc­tion in Mil­lau, in the foothills of France’s Mas­sif Cen­tral moun­tains.

He has faced repeat­ed tri­als and served jail time for destroy­ing genet­i­cal­ly mod­i­fied crops.

The Asso­ci­at­ed Press, 11 Jan­u­ary 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hq-PHd96BpmEGZYsFUZ4_KEto5zAD8U3VO802