Vandals destroy a vine test plantation in Alsace

A group of around 60 vandals broke during the night of august 15 into an experimental plantation created by the French agricultural research institute (INRA) in Alsace. The tore up and destroyed 70 vines that had been planted to see if genetically modified vines (GMO vines) could survive the dreaded disease grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV, or court-noué). There is today no cure for this disease that eventually kills a suffering plant. The trial plantation was minutely planned so that no vegetal material could spread from the test plantation. It was also well protected by fencing, since a previous trial had been destroyed a few years back. That apparently did not prevent the persons the get into the plantation and massacre the plants. The assailants thus put an end to work that has been running since 2005.

This time the vandalism has been criticised from several sides. The French ministers for agriculture, research and ecology have supported INRA and condemned the vandals, as has CFDT, France’s biggest trade union. “We have acted with non-violence […]. Public funds are used for GMO research, this plantation was on an open field and we did not want it here”, said Olivier Florent, one of the vandals, to AFP, all belonging to a French group called “les faucheurs”. I see, then it is of course quite OK to vandalise the plantation?

Les Faucheurs even make a wine that you can buy, www.favoritechoses.com. Or do you just enter the shop and grab a bottle and leave if you like it?

Read more lejournalduvin.com and www.lejournalduvin.com and www.lejournalduvin.com (use Google Translate if you don’t read French)

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