Category: Genetics

Two Bayer facilities in Essex were hit in a night-time raid by anti-GM activists in the early hours of Friday 23rd April 2004.

As part of the send-off to Bayer after their decision to pull out of GM crop trials in the UK, locks were glued, windows smashed and slogans painted at two separate installations belonging to Bayer Diagnostics in Halstead, Essex.

The message of the graffitti was loud and clear: “BAYER OUT OF GM – AND STAY OUT!!” Bayer be warned: you know what to expect if you attempt to pursue GM in the UK in the future…

see manila indymedia for a report of a Bayer action in the Philippines.
also see www.boycottbayer.org

Bye Bayer
e-mail: contact@stopbayergm.org
Homepage: http://www.stopbayergm.org

Amidst widescale protests against corporate control of the food chain 2,000 Brazilian women blockaded a supermarket 800 miles south of Brasilia in a protest against genetically engineered food

BRASILIA, Brazil: Women farmers throughout Brazil demonstrated Thursday on International Women’s Day to protest worldwide economic policies they say are unfair.

Some 700 women members of Brazil’s Landless Rural Workers Movement occupied a McDonald’s restaurant in Porto Alegre, some 1,600 kms (1,000 miles) south of Brasilia.

They burned flags bearing the fast-food chain’s logo, criticized economic globalization and called the Brazilian government a slave to “world neoliberalism.” Thursday’s protest was inspired by the anti-globalization efforts of French activist Jose Bove a sheep farmer who shot to fame for ransacking a McDonald’s restaurant in France and was arrested in Brazil last January after he joined the workers movement in a massive protest.

Also on Thursday, some 2,000 women blocked access to a supermarket in Florianopolis, 1,300 kms (800 miles) south of Brasilia, claiming it sold genetically engineered food.

And in Belo Horizonte, some 600 kms (380 miles) southeast of Brasilia, a group of women protested in front of the local city council chambers demanding that the government speed up agrarian reform.

As with the Greenpeace action the previous week, the Smash Genetix action was targeted at GM fodder maize. Unlike its oilseed rape, AgrEvo’s GM maize already has consent to be grown in the European Union. This means that the government is under no obligation to inform the public, or other farmers or bee-keepers about where it is being grown. For this reason concerned members of the public and local agricultural producers have to play detective to find out whether their produce is at risk from contamination. Detailed research finally identified the right farm but unfortunately incorrect scientific analysis led activists to the wrong field.

Eighty activists initially outfoxed the police, and in a well co-ordinated action destroyed a field of maize. However, two hours later, the police arrived and began rounding up activists. Some managed to get away by running along ditches and hedgerows or hiding in the undergrowth, but 46 people were arrested. All were initially charged with criminal damage, as well as conspiracy to cause criminal damage, which would have meant a jury trial.

In an obviously political move the conspiracy charge was later dropped, along with all charges against 22 people. The remaining 24 have had their charges changed to the lesser charge of aggravated trespass. The court date will be 19th January 2000.

This action, more than any, highlights the secrecy with which these trials are conducted. It is evident that the government supports the interests of big business over small local producers whose products may be polluted without them even knowing.

On 5th August three members from GenetiX Snowball openly and accountably trashed an AgrEvo test site, breaking an injunction served against them. They took the bagged up crops to AgrEvil’s HQ in Norfolk where the staff were totally phased, despite the fact that they had been sent a letter saying they were going to break their injunctions. At an impromptu press conference AgrEvo claimed that Snowball had the wrong site, until a journalist pointed out the injunction signs surrounding it. Finally they were allowed to hand in the bag of GM oilseed rape and their statements and injunctions. Over two months later they are still awaiting their committal papers!!

Greenpeace Norfolk GM action

The following weekend, Greenpeace activists, including its executive director Lord Melchett, decontaminated a GM maize farm-scale trial in Lyng, Norfolk.

This action, in which 28 people were arrested, could have turned into a tragedy when the farmer who owned the land, William Brigham, became violent, driving a tractor into the mower which was driven onto the field to destroy the maize, as well as chasing the activists around the field. Of those arrested, only Lord Melchett was remanded, and his treatment ignited a long-awaited debate in the press regarding direct action and whether it is the action of a small unrepresentative minority who want to derail the democratic process. The government would say that, wouldn’t it! Unfortunately, much of the press debate focused on ‘establishment maverick’ Melchett, rather than the validity of farm-scale trials or why ordinary people take action. Because the police arrived before the site was completely destroyed, the trial remains valid.

No-one fancied going back to finish off the job and possibly meeting rabid farmer Brigham again! Those arrested await a court date for a crown court trial.

Scottish GE simultaneous decontaminations

Some other local actions and events Scotland – Scottish Genetix Action report that on Saturday 24th July 1999, in a simultaneous action, GM oilseed rape test sites in Edinburgh and Aberdeen were destroyed. Scottish Genetix Action will continue to campaign for a GMO-free Scotland.