NOTE: This is all over French media websites, though the article below strikes a note of caution. Our favourite headline on the story: Le lobby OGM persona non grata. OGM is the equivalent abbreviation in French to GMO. You can read more about this story in French here: http://www.acteurspublics.com/2012/10/17/les-deputes-font-le-menage-dans-la-liste-des-lobbyistes
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Agrochemical lobbyists barred from French parliament?
Peter Crosskey
ARC, October 22 2012
http://www.arc2020.eu/front/2012/10/agrochemical-lobbyists-barred-from-french-parliament/
According to press reports the French parliament has excluded representatives of major agrochemical groups from the corridors of the Palais Bourbon in Paris. The story started as an isolated report in public sector website, acteurs publics, which has been relayed elsewhere on the media circuit. By Friday night, only Nouvel Observateur had added any new material to the original report, which has only appeared in French media so far.
The French parliament's website lists about 180 pass-holders, representing a wide range of public and private organisations. At the time of writing, the list still contained representatives of Bayer Crop Science, Dupont, Monsanto and Syngenta, but these are expected to be dropped in the next version.
The acteurs publics website talks of a total of seven lobbyists; of these, the four corporations are readily identifiable, the others remain a matter of conjecture. Since the current Monsanto lobbyist also represents France’s seed institute GNIS and crop protection union UIPP, there is an existing conflict of interests. This will be aggravated if the same executive returns to represent one or both of the industry bodies.
GMO lobbyists persona non grata
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