THE GMO SHOW (BIG SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS)

In the genetically modified plants affair, which has been going on for a decade, the debate on their agronomic and economic advantages and possible dangers takes place more often in the streets or the fields than in an appropriate place such as a lecture hall. Summer 2001 was marked by the uprooting of genetically modified corn by the Farmers’ Confederation in the French countryside. The peak came on September 1 2001 during the last uprooting in the Vienne region, which we attended. For
the first time, reference was made to the French Agency of Food Sanitary Security document announcing that 41% of corn seeds in France are contaminated. Where does this contamination come from? What are the effects of these figures on organic farmers who refuse any trace of GMOs? Who are the vandals? Environmental activists or representatives from agricultural business?