“Dusty Desperadoes” raid Monsanto

Dusty, Washington, August 1— Anti-biotech direct actionists calling themselves the Dusty Desperadoes destroyed five acres of genetically engineered canola at Monsanto facilities here yesterday.

A communiqué sent by the activists stated that “Monsanto may have its capitalist spurs dug into our lives but with machetes and scythes, we destroyed its attempt at corporate greenwashing by leveling five acres of field tests including some Round-Up Ready canola. Recently institutions have been denying that they grow GE crops when sabotaged by fellow renegades. This time, Monsanto cannot hide behind this PR façade because they provide fliers at their site explicitly stating that they grow GE canola in Dusty.”

The communiqué continued, “This site in Dusty, WA is only one miniscule part of Monsanto’s biological imperialism. In Washington alone it has 96 current permits for the release of GE organisms. It has recently begun to expand its monopolies from chemicals to seeds to water, and the crisis of pollution and depletion of water resources is viewed by Monsanto as a business opportunity. According to Robert Farley of Monsanto, ‘What you are seeing is not just a consolidation of seed companies, it is really a consolidation of the entire food chain.’”

Since November 1998 there have been roughly 37 anti-genetic direct actions in North America and the movement shows no signs of slowing. In the past two weeks Earth Liberation Front activists struck facilities in two different states. The same week, direct actionists called Concerned Maine Citizens cut down trees at an experimental farm in Milo, Maine. Last week, hundreds of activists protested the International Society for Animal Genetics facing heavily armed police and state troopers in downtown Minneapolis. The movement maintains that biotechnology is completely unnecessary and is being developed at the expense of human and ecological health, solely to increase the profits of large multinational corporations.

The communiqué concludes: “We send solidarity to our fellow bandits who recently had their houses raided and bodies beaten during protests against the International Society of Animal Geneticists (ISAG) in Minneapolis, MN. The government’s blatant display of repression shows how hot the heat from our branding iron is on the ass of our opposition.”

Source: GenetiX Alert: genetixalert@tao.ca

Biotech giant Novartis bans GMOs from its own foods

Brussels, Belgium, August 4— Novartis, one of the world’s largest providers of seeds for growing genetically modified (GM) food, confirmed yesterday that it has made its own food products GM-free.

The Swiss agribusiness and pharmaceutical giant which is at the forefront of GM crop technology banned genetically modified ingredients from all its food brands worldwide from the end of June this year.

The policy was revealed in a letter the company sent to the Belgian office of Greenpeace in an attempt to get the environmental group to include Novartis on its list of GM-free food producers.

Novartis said it was aiming to guarantee that all of its foods -- mostly health foods such as cereal bars — were free of GM ingredients because of pressure from consumers. Many consumers across Europe are distrustful of transgenicfoods.

“With the current sentiment among the population towards GMOs, we have decided to take all necessary practical measures to avoid using genetically modifed organisms in our products worldwide,” Novartis said in its letter.

A spokesman for Novartis confirmed the company’s consumer health division had opted last summer gradually to phase out GM ingredients from its food lines.

The Novartis policy even goes as far as demanding certificates from its ingredient suppliers stating their products are GM-free.

“Consumer health, being in a consumer-driven market, has to deliver what consumers want. We have to respond to the changing needs of the various markets,” the spokesman said.

Asked if Novartis’ anti-GM stance conflicted with its position as a vociferous promoter of GM seeds, the spokesman said: “That’s a totally different question.”

“All our business centers operate independently in totally different markets. The market for seeds is totally different from the market for food products,” he said.

Saudi Arabia bans import of GM foods

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, August 4— Saudi Arabia has banned the import of foodstuffs containing genetically modified ingredients, including soya bean oil, a newspaper reported yesterday.

The al-Eqtisadiah daily quoted Commerce Minister Osama bin Jaafar Faqih as saying the decision was taken due to lack of agreement among several countries on whether to allow the import and export of produce which had been genetically treated.

The minister said there was also no agreement on technical, operational and legal measures regulating international trade of genetically modified foodstuffs.

In March, Saudi Arabia said it had obtained information that soya bean oil fromThailand had been made from genetically modified seeds.

Source: Reuters