A new front has opened up in the controversy over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food with the surprise emergence in France of a group of radical rural campaigners claiming to be in favour of open-field experiments. In a maize field near Marsat in the Puy-de-DÎme at the weekend, gendarmes intervened after the anti-globalisation campaigner José Bové and 500 of his supporters came to blows with a new group describing itself as "volunteer farmers and researchers in favour of GMO tests".
The clash came amid growing signs that the French authorities are wavering in their opposition to open-field tests of GM crops, the seeds of which are developed in laboratories to be resistant to certain pests or to herbicides. In recent weeks even the conservative French wine-growing industry has announced it wishes to keep an open mind over the possible benefits of GMOs. The weekend clash, which resulted in two arrests, was the first physical confrontation between the two camps. France - where anti-GMO campaigners trample experimental crops most weekends - has become Europe's main battleground over the issue, but police rarely intervene and most confrontations have been confined to courtrooms. Mr Bové has called on his supporters - known as "the new Luddites volunteer reapers" - to step up their campaign of civil disobedience before a European Commission decision on the issue due this autumn. The commission, which in May for the first time authorised the planting of a genetically modified maize seed manufactured by the Swiss company Syngenta, is divided and must decide by November whether to authorise the US chemical giant Monsanto to sell its transgenic NK603 maize in the EU.
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Mr Bovéâs "volunteer reapers" said yesterday that the emergence of a group campaigning in favour of open-field tests was an attempt by the GMO industry to give a "grassroots flavour" to its efforts to win over public opinion. The Green MP Moisette Crosnier said: "Eighty per cent of Europeans are scared of the dark against GMOs in their food and 75 per cent of French people are opposed to open-field experiments. We have to keep up the pressure on the government and remind it of the will of the people." So far only 21 open-field GMO tests have been authorised on 48 plots totalling 7.3 hectares.
The "volunteer farmers and researchers in favour of GMOs" are led by Pierre Pagesse, a farmer and the managing director of the French biotechnology firm Biogemma. He says he launched his group because the "continuing destruction of crops is playing into the hands of Franceâs competitors". He said: "At this rate European farming will fall behind. To have sustainable agriculture you first of all need to sustain the farmers." Despite popular opposition to GMOs, the farming industry and French scientists are increasingly arguing that the phenomenon is unstoppable. The agriculture ministry has begun a process of public consultation by internet and a report by the French food security agency, AFSSA, last month claimed that GM maize and cotton, as well as beetroot and rice, showed health benefits.
The left again takes on the role of King Canute. Without the wisdom or the grace, and with a lot more shouting and screaming. 
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