Activists opposing genetically-modified food trials have caused £20,000 worth of damage to sugar beet crops in east Cork.
Dr Patrick O'Reilly, Mon santo's business manager in Ireland, said the attack at the weekend, in which the plants were hacked down or pulled up, was outrageous, "anti-democratic and cowardly". He said it was carried out by faceless people who had a Luddite view of the world.
Dr O'Reilly said it was the fourth attack on Monsanto GMO field trials, which had caused £120,000 in criminal damage to scientific trials that had been approved by the State and the Environmental Protection Agency.
He went on: "Research trials such as these are designed to provide answers to some of the questions which anti-biotechnology groups are posing. People who carry out such vandalism clearly don't want to receive answers and want to keep the public and particularly farmers in the dark.
"The result of last year's trials were extremely encouraging. We achieved significant positive results with 40 per cent less pesticide used, a major reduction in environmental contamination and increased yields.
"A series of farmer groups were hosted at the Cork and Wexford trial sites. There was an enthusiastic response from farmers to the obvious benefits of the technology. Our opponents are obviously trying to deny farmers, consumers and the public the right to know this important information."
Dr O'Reilly said there had been 30,000 trials of such crops in more than 53 countries. They had shown that farmers could gain significantly, as could consumers. He added that sugar beet trials had been conducted since 1990 in a number of EU countries.
Dr O'Reilly said the trials were subject to regular, stringent monitoring and assessment. For this reason, they should be allowed to proceed without interference.
"The people who vandalise research trials are displaying a Luddite, oxen-and-plough mentality towards agriculture. The fact is that biotechnology will help to revolutionise how we manage crop production, pest control and chemical residues in crops and in the environment in the new millennium."
This latest attack on a Monsanto site was now the subject of a Garda investigation, Dr O'Reilly said.
In September 1997 a trial crop was destroyed in Oakpark, Co Carlow.
A second growing trial was vandalised at Arthurstown, New Ross, Co Wexford, in June last year. Seven people were charged with criminal damage at New Ross District Court in March and given the benefit of the Probation Act. Earlier this month, further damage was caused to the same site at Arthurstown.
Yesterday, Ms Adrienne Murphy, the editor of Source, a magazine on environmental and holistic issues which will be on sale in the coming weeks, said she was pleased that activists had disrupted the Monsanto trial in Cork, because she believed the new crops being developed were very dangerous.
Genetically-modified foods could wreck the opportunity for organic farming to be developed properly, she claimed.
Ms Murphy was one of those charged with criminal damage and given the Probation Act in New Ross this year.