A Colony of French Beekeepers Occupy Monsanto, land meeting with government officials‏

Thursday, January 12, 2012

A Colony of French Beekeepers Occupy Monsanto, land meeting with government officials‏

More than 100 French beekeepers and anti-gmo protestors judiciously managed to enter and occupy the premises of Monsanto’s administrative building in Monbéqui, France last Friday for several hours, demanding the government ban GMO corn in the country.

A vanguard of about 20 people keenly used a Trojan Horse technique by passing for a delivery truck. Once the gate was opened the rest of the group swarmed in. The element of surprise was absolute.

When the police arrived, the occupiers were already inside the building, dressed in full beekeeping regalia with beehives, smokers and enough food to last them a while (see video).

As many of you know, the coexistence of GMO open fields and beekeeping is incompatible. The corn tassles, the bees collect the pollen and often times the hive collapses soon after. Beekeepers are also worried that honey contaminated by GMO corn will be declared unsuitable for human consumption.

It was in February 2008—in keeping with the Precautionary Principle— that France first adopted a safeguard clause to suspend the cultivation of Mon 810 GM corn, stating that it posed serious threats to the environment.

Meanwhile during September of last year the European Court of Justice determined that a German beekeeper’s honey was unmarketable because it contained the presence of honey tainted with genetically modified Monsanto 810 corn.

Strangely a few days later, the exact same court invalidated the 2008 safety clause, regarding this type of corn.

Obviously the recent ruling deeply distressed French beekeepers who have already witnessed their bees shrink at an alarming rate since systemic pesticides such as Régent & Gaucho were first introduced more than a decade ago.

Beekeepers want an immediate government decision with a decree until a safeguard clause is put into action, again.

As a result of the protest, beekeepers landed a meeting with the Secretary of Ecology on January 13th to discuss a desire to ban the transport and commerce of GMO corn seed.

“The government is committed at the highest level to maintaining the ban on growing Monsanto 810 and notable for the next growing season,” the minister of Ecology recently stated.

The occupiers eventually left the premises peacefully under the watchful eyes of 20 or so policemen present on the site.

“We succeeded in putting in place a nation-wide demonstration with people who joined us from the four-corners of France, from Ardèche and Brittany to the Puy -de- Dôme,” said Jean Sabench, a beekeeper from Saint-Pons-de-Tomières. ”We came to Monbéqui to tell Monsanto to stop their nasty production. We do not want to see them destroy everything in their path. The MON 810 will make us bankrupt. We need to stop this!”

This article was translated with the help of Livia Calvet, a freelance translator based in New York City.” The original French article can be found here.