San Francisco

Troubled by vandalism at University of California research sites and elsewhere, a committee of the California state assembly has approved a bill that would create tough penalties for the destruction of research crops.

Under the proposed legislation, anyone who uprooted or harmed a crop under study would be liable for civil penalties of twice the value of the plants — including testing, research and development costs. Judges could also add on criminal sanctions.

Assemblywoman Helen Thomson (Democrat, Davis) introduced the legislation in response to a series of attacks carried out since last summer by anti-biotech activists. Protesters have destroyed corn, sugar beet, walnut trees, melons, tomatoes and equipment at sites belonging to the Davis and Berkeley campuses of the University of California.

Activists have also damaged sunflowers, corn, greenhouses and irrigation equipment belonging to the commercial companies Pioneer Hi-Bred and NK Seeds.

The protesters say they aim to sabotage research and cause economic damage. “If a research crop is ‘nipped in the bud’, so to speak, it may never make it to the commercial market,” advises one instructional guide to anti-biotech sabotage posted on the Internet (see http://www.tao.ca/~ban).

Thomson told the legislators that the ruined studies could have helped to document the health and ecological effects of genetically modified crops. “Productive academic debate on the merits of genetically modified food products should be encouraged. Wanton destruction of another's property and research should not,” she said.

Denny Henke, spokesman for a loose network of activist groups, rejects such complaints, arguing that GM crops are not being tested in any significant way before they enter the US marketplace. “The Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture seem to be acting as if these things are innocent until proven guilty,” he says.

Henke adds that high fines probably would not deter the activists. However, no one at the hearing opposed the bill, which must be approved by the judiciary committee before being presented to the full assembly.