*FRENCH ACTIVISTS DESTROY GM BEET TEST CROP
*PESTICIDE KILLS 15 WILD ELEPHANTS

Looks like the riot squad didn't make it to this one
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FRENCH ACTIVISTS DESTROY GM BEET TEST CROP
September 15, 2001
Reuters

PARIS -- Some 40 activists destroyed a test crop of genetically modified animal feed in northern France on Saturday to protest against GM crops being cultivated in open fields alongside non-GM crops.

Activists, belonging to the left-wing Confederation Paysanne and the ecologist Greens Party, uprooted a crop of mangel-wurzel, a form of beet fed to animals, near Lille, while police watched.

Gabriel Dewalle, the local head of the Confederation Paysanne said he urged European Union agriculture ministers ahead of a three-day meeting in Brussels starting on Sunday to end the practice of allowing GM crops to be grown in open fields, adding,  "We say to farmers: It is an issue concerning public health. Refuse this type of seed as it could turn against you."

Since late June, activists have ransacked many GM crop sites around France protesting against the bio-engineered plants, which many of them fear if grown in uncontrolled circumstances could infect neighbouring crops.
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PESTICIDE KILLS 15 WILD ELEPHANTS
September 15, 2001
The Associated Press [via Agnet]

GAUHATI, India -- A banned pesticide used by villagers in remote northeastern India was, according to this story, blamed Saturday for the death last month of 15 wild elephants.  Investigator Kushal Konwar Sharma said forensic tests revealed the presence of the pesticide Dimecron in the elephants' carcasses, which were discovered in and around Nameri National Park in Assam state.