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March 30, 2000
from a press release
Greenpeace exposes GE contamination of Nestle
food in New Zealand
Auckland, New Zealand -- Greenpeace activists today have halted distribution
of Nestle products at Nestleís South Auckland distribution centre.
The
action aims to prevent food potentially contaminated with GE ingredients
from being distributed.
"Greenpeace is closing down Nestleís distribution site today
because we
have discovered that its instant soy drink, marketed under the brand name
Carnation, is contaminated with Monsantoís genetically engineered
Roundup
Ready Soya" says Carl Reller, Greenpeace GE Campaigner.
"Nestle have guaranteed that they will rid their food products of
genetically engineered ingredients in Austria, France, Germany, Belgium,
the United Kingdom and Hong Kong over the past year. But at the same time
they are still supplying GE food to New Zealanders. This is unacceptable
to
consumers in New Zealand. GE food is not wanted, and its not needed. We
invite Nestle today to make a public commitment to go GE free in New
Zealand" says Carl Reller.
Monsantoís genetically engineered Roundup Ready soybean was first
commercially planted in 1996. It now accounts for 50% of the US soya crop.
Whilst little is known about the environmental and health implications
of
the swift introduction of commercially grown GE crops, the potential risks
to biodiversity would be irreversible.
April 1 - British activists do an action on Monsanto in the USA
April Fools! Six campaigners from the UK, dressed up as biotech 'heroes'
including 'Bob Shapiro', 'Terminator Gene' and 'Ms Canderelle', played
a
playful visit to Monsanto's headquarters in St. Louis on April 1st.
Monsanto's security arrived within minutes, but before escaping in their
getaway vehicle, the mischievious six had managed to make some alterations
to the sign at the entrance. Monsanto's famous slogan of 'Food, Health
and
Hope' now read 'Fraud, Stealth and Hype', and the logo of a healthy green
plant was now a withering symbol of the society-wide collapse of support
for genetically engineered food. The action was inspired by a satirical
song from the English band "Seize the Day", which accuses the
corporation
of "turning Satan into Santa", and was launched on the web a
year ago to
the day, at <http://www.seizetheday.org/>www.seizetheday.org .
( They did send a photo which although is very nice doesn't look like
a
picture of an action. If you're curious you can see it here (15k), and
when
we get the proper photo we will post it on the website too.)
1 April - Monterey Bay RAGE showed up at the west-side Safeway in Santa
Cruz, CA with costumes etc. and publicaly label all foods that may contain
GMOs - about 15 people, some dressed in biohazardsuits, all wearing patches
reading "you've been fooled by the FDA" entered a Safeway today
and began
labelling the frankenfood 15 with labels reading "this food may contain
unlabelled genetically modified organisms". others simply went in
and
raised a ruckus by staging theater pieces about GMOs. didn't take them
long
to boot us but we got out hundreds of stickers and talked to a bunch of
customers, many of whom were really interested and concerned. the manager
told two plain clothes regular looking folks who expressed concern about
the eviction of the labellers "if you're concerned about it (GMOs)
you
shouldn't shop here!" ok, we won't, but we will be back....
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