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French rapeseed farmers destroyed 18,000 hectares over GMO risk:
Bayer
French farmers destroyed
a total of 18,000 hectares of rapeseed,
more than double the area initially expected, following the
discovery of a non-authorized genetically
modified organism (GMO) in seeds, German group Bayer said
on Friday.
Bayer had announced in
February that farmers in France and Germany were turning over
thousands of hectares of rapeseed crops after traces of a GMO
variety grown in Canada were detected in batches of seed sold in
Europe. GMO crops are widely grown
across the world, but remain controversial in Europe, where very
few varieties are authorized for growing and
countries like France have completely
outlawed their cultivation, citing environmental risks.
A spokeswoman for Bayer,
which had previously estimated around 8,000 hectares of rapeseed
would be lost in France, said the area had reached 18,000
hectares after further precautionary removals of crops, for
example when there were doubts over traceability of seeds.
The area of rapeseed
destroyed in Germany was in line with initial expectations at
2,500-3,000 hectares, she said. The destruction was carried
out before the flowering of crops, which could have led to the
spreading of the non-authorized GMO variety. The affected seed was
sold under the Dekalb brand, developed by
U.S. group Monsanto which was acquired by Bayer last
year. Bayer has
offered compensation to farmers for the
loss of this yearfs crop and an obligation not to grow rapeseed
next year to avoid re-emergence of rapeseed containing the GMO
strain. Bayer has said the cause of
the contamination of the seeds, produced
in Argentina in a GMO-free zone, was unclear.
The crops lost in France and
Germany are relatively small given a rapeseed area of around 1
million hectares in each country. But they will add to a sharp
decline in area this year after drought led farmers to scale
back sowings.