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GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS KEEP GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CORN BEHIND LOCKED DOORS
AMSTERDAM, FEBRUARY 14TH 1997
As opposition to genetically engineered corn increases, Greenpeace activists today chained themselves to storage facilities in a French harbour in order to prevent thousands of tons of genetically contaminated corn being released into the environment.
The corn, destined for animal feed, has been in storage since December, when Greenpeace held up its original delivery at the docks at St. Nazaire in the West of France. Activists are now preventing it from leaving the dock area by chaining themselves to the doors of the warehouse. They have hung banners in French and English expressing opposition to geneticallly engineered food.
"This corn should not be going anywhere," said Greenpeace campaigner Michelle Sheather. "The European Commission may have given its approval, but that decision is now in tatters. Not only has it been officially challenged by European member states but even France, which originally proposed the corn for approval, has now changed its mind.."
On Wednesday the French Government said it would not allow its farmers to raise GE corn crops, although importing the corn remains legal. Greenpeace called on the French government, and other European countries, to also ban its import.
Although 13 European Union states were opposed to bringing GE corn into Europe, the European Commission bowed to US threats of a trade war and officially approved it three weeks ago. In an unprecedented challenge to the Commission's power, Austria and Luxembourg then imposed national import bans. They say that the findings of the three scientific committees consulted by the Commission "are not sufficiently conclusive to rule out all harmful effects on human health and the environment," and have forced the Commission to reconsider its decision.
Luxembourg's Environment Minister said the incorporation into the transgenic maize of a gene increasing resistance to the antibiotic Ampicillin "may have implications for human health" which the committees did not correctly assess.
Protests are coming from all sides. EuroCoop (European Community of Consumer Cooperatives), said in a statement last week that "the approval system of the genetically-modified maize should have been more strict and the precautionary principle should have been a key element in the judgement of safety risk, no matter how small that risk may be."
EuroCoop has also backed Greenpeace's contention that the label "may contain GMOs" as proposed by the Conmmission, is inadequate. It has called for a "separation" of genetically-modified maize, raw materials as well as their derivatives, from conventional maize and strongly criticises firms which have refused to segregate the two.
Footage and pictures from today's action available from Greenpeace France: tel +33 1 5343 8585
For further information contact:
James Gillies, Greenpeace International, Amsterdam, tel: +31 20 524 9548
Laurence Mermet, Greenpeace France, St. Nazaire, mobile tel: +33 6 0757 3160