Four public research organisation chiefs condemn the destruction of GMO crops

Open-field trials of genetically modified (GM) crop-plants are implemented only sparingly. This is done with due transparency and in the respect of strict regulations. They are initiated to meet one or other of the following objectives: obtain and evaluate fundamental knowledge on the biology of the plants concerned, guarantee the quality of plant varieties sold in France and identify and evaluate the risks for the environment. Hence they provide input to national expertise on these questions and contribute to the informational means to use it from an independent standpoint.

Such field trials are the final means, after prior greenhouse experimentation and mathematical modelling, of verifying results acquired in artificial conditions. This step is needed, for the benefit of all who feel concerned by GMOs and for answering questions regarding both the hopes raised by GMOs and the anxieties that might justifiably be induced by this technology. The trials are thus necessary for the continuity of research and for maintaining expertise.

For the national interest of all in the short, medium and long term, we strongly condemn the destruction of trial GM crops and call for dialogue: without violence and in a climate of respect for the positions of different parties.

Serge Calabre, Director General of the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)
Marion Guillou, President of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
Bernard Larrouturou, Director General of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Benoît Lesaffre, Director General of the Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD)