Illegal Monsanto GE maize from Argentina found in Swiss food
Coop supermarkets to remove products from shelves

24 April 2002, Zurich/the Hague – Today Greenpeace confiscated thousands of boxes of food products in Switzerland containing a variety of GE maize not approved for human consumption in Europe. The maize originated in Argentina, where it is not aproved for commercial growing. Greenpeace activists in Zurich are shipping the products back to Monsanto, and activists at the Biosatety Protocol meeting in the Hague today handed GE representatives a parcel of the seized maize products.

Genetic testing revealed the Swiss supermarket products containing maize imported from Argentina to be contaminated with Monsanto’s genetically engineered (GE) variety of Roundup Ready GA21. This variety has not been approved for human consumption in Europe. Nor is it approved for commercial growing in Argentina. This further fuels suspicion of illegal plantings of GE crops in Argentina.(1)

Swiss Greenpeace campaigner Brune Heinzer said, “Monsanto seeks to dictate the world’s food production from fields to plates by imposing this potentially dangerous technology and GE products on everyone – regardless of all precautions others may have in place.”

In Zurich, Greenpeace activists packed contaminated products into a gigantic five-by-three metre parcel, ready for a delivery back to Monsanto in Argentina. They called for an immediate withdrawal of all contaminated maize from the European market and a full investigation of illegal plantings of GE crops in Argentina and elsewhere.

Supermarkets react
After the action, which received intensive media coverage, the Swiss supermarket chain Coop publicly announced that they took Greenpeace's investigation seriously, and would remove the affected maize semolina products from their shelves and discontinue selling them at this time.

Greenpeace campaigner from Argentina Daniela Montalto said in Zurich that, “This scandal supports evidence from a Greenpeace investigation last year that indicated illegal plantings of Monsanto's herbicide resistant GE crops may be going on in the three maize production provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Cordoba."

"The company and the Argentinean Government have so far ignored calls to disclose information although this variety clearly has not been approved for planting, human or animal consumption in Argentina or for import to Europe,” said Montalto.

At the UN Biosafety Protocol (2) meeting in the Hague, the Netherlands, Greenpeace handed over a parcel of seized maize products to the GE industry representatives. Greenpeace is asking the company to take responsibility for the damage it is causing by ignoring the existing laws and the Precautionary Principle, which is at heart of the Biosafety Protocol.

Campaigner Miges Baumann, who is head of the Greenpeace delegation in the Hague, said, “We demand that Monsanto is made to play by the rules and is also held liable for any damage and cost resulting from the genetic contamination it spreads."

"World governments urgently need to get on with the ratification and implementation of the Biosafety Protocol in order not to backtrack from the commitment to create an effective liability regime to cover the cost of contamination, which is unfortunately bound to happen as long as GE crops are being produced,” said Baumann.

For further information please contact:

In Zurich, Bruno Heinzer, Greenpeace Switzerland +41 79 400 88 31;
Daniela Montalto, Greenpeace Argentina, Mob: +41794801974;
In Buenos Aires, Emiliano Ezcurra, Greenpeace Argentina, Mob: +54-11 51094104;
In the Hague, Miges Baumann, Head of Greenpeace Delegation at the UN Biosafety meeting, Mob: +41 79 471 66 60;
Dr Doreen Stabinsky, Science and Biosafety Expert, Greenpeace International +31(0) 629001144
Teresa Merilainen, Media Officer, Greenpeace International +31205236637

Notes:

1. Greenpeace tested maize semolina imported from Argentina to Switzerland, and detected contamination in three food products: COOP Polenta Dorara, Valgarona Polenta Rapida, Valgarona Polenta Rustica, all marketed by COOP Switzerland. The tests confirmed the presence of the Roundup Ready GA21 maize, which is produced by Monsanto. Tests were conducted by laboratory Genescan, in Germany.

2. More information on the UN Biosafety Protocol talks:
Immediate ratification of Biosafety Protocol needed
Background information on the Biosafety Protocol
Biosafety Protocol section of Greenpeace GE Website

See also:
Monsanto admits to another instance of unapproved GE crops contaminating food supply
Coop supermarkets press release regarding the contaminated products

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