French farmer on hunger strike over GM crops

8 Jan 2008

 

A MILITANT French farmer who once wrecked a McDonald’s restaurant in a food protest has begun a hunger strike over GM crops.

José Bové and around 15 supporters say they want to pressure their government to ban cultivation of genetically modified corn.

“We will hold out for as long as it takes,” said the sheep farmer, who was an unsuccessful presidential candidate last April.

Bové had eaten only vegetable soup for eight days before his fast to accustom his body to the lack of food.

His protest is focused against a seed-type called MON 810, the only type of genetically modified corn currently allowed in France.

He rose to fame in August 1999 when he and supporters used farm equipment to dismantle a McDonald’s branch under construction in Millau, in the foothills of France’s Massif Centrale mountains.

He has faced repeated trials and been jailed for destroying genetically modified crops.

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