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GREENPEACE CHALLENGES CHEMICAL GIANT ON GENE BEANS
BRUSSELS, 6 March 1997
Greenpeace today protested outside the European headquarters of the chemical giant Monsanto and launched a legal action against the company's European patent for its genetically altered soya beans.
Sixty activists from 19 different countries including every European Union state (1) built a concrete wall in front of the entrance to the Brussels headquarters of Monsanto. Giant syringes with XXXX on them were inserted into the concrete, with a banner saying STOP GENETIC FOOD EXPERIMENTS.
Greenpeace is also challenging the legality of the patent granted by the European Patent Office to Monsanto's "Roundup Ready Soya Beans", which have been made resistant to the company's weed killer Roundup. Greenpeace contends that the European Patent Office is breaching its own rules by granting a patent for a plant variety. In 1995, Greenpeace successfully challenged an earlier patent application for a genetically engineered plant.
Monsanto is the third largest chemical company in the USA, and has an international history of toxic pollution [2]. Monsanto was the company which made Agent Orange, the defoliant used during the Vietnam war and which is widely linked to cancer. War veterans claim they are still suffering from their exposure to Agent Orange.
"Monsanto is now trying to force-feed Europe and the world with its genetically engineered soybeans which could be used in up to 60 per cent of processed supermarket products," said Michelle Sheather of Greenpeace International. "Monsanto is forcing its Roundup Ready Soybeans on to the world market," she said. "Although only two percent of last year's soy crop in the US, the world's main producer, was genetically engineered, yet consumers have not been able to get natural soybeans."
[1] Italy, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, France, UK , Nederland, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, Australia, New-Zealand and the US. return
[2] Monsanto also produced one of the world's most toxic substances, PCBs, used in electrical equipment, but now not produced in the western world. The chemicals have been linked to birth defects, infertility, impairment of mental functions in children; cancer and immune systems. The company has paid out millions on cleaning up its toxic sites across the USA, and is linked to more than 93 contaminated sites in the US. return
In the US last year farmers planting what was supposed to be Monsanto's caterpillar-resistant cotton lost up to 60% of the crops, with a final bill of $US 1 billion.
For further information contact:
Pierre Coulon, Campaigner Greenpeace Belgium tel mobile: +32 75 875 831
Michelle Sheather Greenpeace International GE Coordinator: +31 65 393 0971
For information/interviews with activists in different languages call: +31 6 532 38 475