[E-rundbrief] Info 196 - Stop GMO Soybean Ship for France

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 196 - Jose Bove, Confederation Paysanne/ Via Campesina, 
Les Faucheurs Volontaires and Greenpeace Intercept GMO Soybean Ship Headed 
for Portugal. Stop the Import of Monsanto Soybeans for France. Protest 
Against Genetically Engineered Soy on High Seas.

Bad Ischl, 1.2.2005

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Jose Bove & Greenpeace Intercept GMO Soybean Ship Headed for Portugal

http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0125-04.htm

JANUARY 25, 2005

Greenpeace, Jose Bove Protest Against Genetically Engineered Soy on High Seas

WASHINGTON -- January 25 -- This morning the Greenpeace-ship "Esperanza"
intercepted the bulk carrier 'Golden Lion' 140 nautical miles off the coast
of Portugal. The "Golden Lion" is transporting 30.000 tons of genetically
engineered soy from Argentina to France. Onboard the "Esperanza are" also
leading representatives of the French farmers movement 'Confédération
Paysanne' (part of Via Campesina) and the 'Les Faucheurs Volontaires d'OGM'
activist collective.

"This GMO shipment should never have been sent to Europe, and we call on the
French public to go to the port in Lorient on January 28 to take part in a
peaceful protest against GE soy entering the French food chain," says Arnaud
Apoteker. "Millions of tons of GE soy are imported each year to feed cattle,
hogs and poultry in Europe. This is a slap in face for all European citizens
who have rejected GMOs in their food."

The "Golden Lion" is expected to arrive in Lorient, France, on Jan. 28.
The Monsanto 'Roundup Ready' soy onboard the ship is destined for use in
animal feed. The GMO soy expansion in Argentina has caused the destruction
of millions of hectares of rainforest and driven small farmers and
indigenous people off their land.

In Europe, strong and consistent public opposition to GMOs has forced food
producers and retailers not to use GMO ingredients directly in food, but a
big loophole in EU labelling legislation means that eggs, meat and dairy
products from animals fed with GMOs do not have to be labelled. As a
consequence food producers are able to hide the use of GMO soy and maize in
animal feed from consumers.

Together the three organisations demand a ban on the import of GMOs to
France, and specifically call on the ports of Brittany to reject GMO imports
in line with the wishes of the regional government, which recently declared
its intention to become a GMO-free zone (1).

"GMO crops represent the ugly head of destructive industrial agriculture,
threatening both the environment and the livelihoods of small farmers," says
Jose Bove. "We denounce the increasing dominance of a few transnational GMO
seed and pesticide companies over the worlds farmers. We want to end this
sick trade cycle where European farmers have become dependent on dirty
protein crops shipped across the Atlantic. GMOs simply have no place in
sustainable agriculture or in quality food production."

According to a study by U.S. agronomist Charles Benbrook published last
week, the planting of 14 million hectares of herbicide-resistant soy in
Argentina has created a highly vulnerable agricultural system that has also
had severe social impacts (2). An estimated 2.3 million hectares of forest
and savannah have been destroyed since 1996 to make room for new GMO soy
plantations, and areas that used to grow potatoes, beans and rice and were
pasture for beef and dairy cows have been replaced with soybean production
destined for export markets.

"Cutting down rainforests and threatening the home of jaguars and pumas only
to produce animal feed for European factory farming is down-right crazy,"
says Arnaud Apoteker. "I don't think any food producer or retailer in Europe
can defend forests being destroyed to produce animal feed used to make their
food products, and we expect the food industry to move swiftly to protect
their reputation among consumers."

Greenpeace, Confederation Paysanne and Les Faucheurs Volontaires are calling
on their supporters and the public to join a peaceful and non-violent
protest against the import of GMO soy in the port of  Lorient on January 28
morning when the "Golden Lion" is due to arrive.

Notes to Editor:

1. With EU governments on the verge of caving in to US and WTO pressure to
allow (more) GMOs, European regions, cities and rural communities have
responded by taking their own steps to keep GMOs away from European fields
and dinner plates. Brittany is the 17th out of France's 22 regions that has
adopted a form of anti-GMO resolution, thereby joining a rapidly growing
movement in Europe where now 100 regions and 3500 sub-regions have declared
themselves as GMO-free zones. For more information on French and European
GMO-free zones, see http://www.infogm.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=231,
http://www.genet-info.org/Europe.html and
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/gmofree/index.htm

2. Benbrook, C.M. (2005), "Rust, Resistance, Run Down Soils, and rising
Costs: Problems Facing Soybean Producers in Argentina", Ag Bio Tech InfoNet,
Technical Paper Number 8, see www.greenpeace.org/international_en/reports

CONTACT: Greenpeace
Maartje Van Boekel
Tel No: +31 6 4616 2021
Fax No: +31 20 5148151

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