Greenpeace Protest Against Genetically Engineered Soya Imports

James Casey / WorldNews.com 4dec00

In a press release, Greenpeace has condemned the importation of 60,000 tonnes of genetically engineered soya to Europe from the United States. Greenpeace volunteers protested at the entrance of the Ghent-Terneuzen canal in Belgium, as the bulk carrier George attempted to go through the locks.

Greenpeace are demanding that the cargo's owner, the US-based agribusiness giant Cargill, respect the clear choice of the Europeans for a GE free food chain. The environmental group reported that the cargo originated from New Orleans and was bound for Ghent to be used mostly for animal feed, despite opinion polls in several European countries showing consumers do not want genetically engineered ingredients in animal feed any more than in their own food. Greenpeace pointed out that neither consumers nor farmers can reject

GE products as there are still no regulations in Europe to force suppliers and producers to label GE ingredients in animal feed.

Jean-François Fauconnier, Genetic Engineering Campaign for Greenpeace, stated: "Europeans are being force-fed with GE animal products by multinational grain traders like Cargill. They exploit the current legal vacuum in Europe and their dominant market position, leaving no real possibility for the consumers to get rid of GE in their food chain, or for

farmers to accommodate this demand by choosing non-GE feed for their livestock. Cargill could easily provide GE-free soya for the European market, but it chooses to do so only for high surcharges."

He went on to add: "It is simply outrageous that costs from genetic contamination, which takes place when GE crops are mixed with conventional ones, is systematically avoided by the polluters, such as Cargill. Cargill and its close GE business partner, Monsanto, make farmers lose on both sides of the Atlantic. In the US they are forced to either grow a GE contaminated product which they may not be able to sell abroad, or face corporate

surcharges for guaranteeing they are GE free. In Europe, the failure to label GE animal feed means farmers can't be sure the animal products they are producing are GE free."

Greenpeace has argued that Cargill, the world's largest animal feed trader, should implement strict segregation of GE and non-GE crops at source, thus allowing consumers and farmers the right to decide whether they want to eat, or to feed, GE contaminated products.