Greenpeace 'cows' invade Sainsbury's flagship store in London
Anyone who cares about the British countryside will be delighted to hear that the only genetically modified (GM) crop to be given the green light for commercialisation in the UK has been abandoned by its manufacturer - before it was even planted.
Chemical company Bayer Cropscience has announced that it will not grow its GM Chardon LL maize in the UK.
Chardon LL was the variety of maize that 28 Greenpeace volunteers uprooted in Norfolk in 1999 when the crop was undergoing field trials. We were acquitted of charges of criminal damage when the court agreed they were acting in the interest of protecting the environment.
The genetically modified (GM) maize was the last great hope of the GM industry to invade Britain. The UK government has already turned down requests to commercially plant GM oilseed rape (canola) and beet. With Bayer's retreat, the anti-GM campaign has won a significant victory.
Some of the world's most powerful companies and one of the world's most powerful governments have remained steadfastly determined to get GM crops grown commercially in the UK, despite massive public resistance campaigns which have:
- removed GM from all human foods sold in the UK
- removed GM from nearly all poultry and pig feed
- reduced the number of GE field trials from over 300 locations per year to currently zero
- caused Monsanto to leave the UK
This is a great victory for the thousands and thousands of people who have taken online action, shopped selectively to avoid GM products, spent cold nights pulling up crops, long weekends talking to shoppers and farmers, and years of emotional and intellectual energy countering the bullying, lobbying power and financial clout of the GM companies.
But Bayer's decision doesn't mean Britain will be free of GM. The maize was to be used as cattle fodder. Supermarkets like Sainsbury's continue to support the import of millions of tonnes of American GM maize to feed the cows that produce our milk.
We will continue to fight this dangerous technology wherever it's grown.
Meanwhile, our cows will continue to make themselves heard at Sainsbury's stores across the UK. They've already invaded the company's flagship store at Greenwich in London and the supermarket in Nottingham. The cows attached themselves to store fixtures on both occassions.
The cows message is - if Sainsbury's is serious about quality, it should turn its back on GM milk today.
Who knows which store they will visit next?
