Greenpeace volunteers uproot a field of GM maize in Norfolk, 1999
Genetically modified (GM) crops have had a massive impact on farmers, shoppers and the natural world. Like the multinational companies which champion them, we work internationally to prevent their spread and promote better alternatives.
Informing consumers
The grandiose claims of the biotech industry about the benefits of their GM inventions are often misleading so we ensure consumers have enough information to make up their own minds.
As a result, millions of shoppers across the UK and Europe have already rejected GM products, yet those with vested interests continue to force them onto the market in an effort to recoup the massive development costs and gain intellectual property rights over our food, so we are here to make sure they don't go unchallenged.
Questioning assumptions
Part of this is questioning assumptions that GM crops will help ease poverty and hunger throughout the world. To do this, we cut through the biotechnology industry's promotional hype and report from the ground where farmers in countries such as Argentina and India are being driven into poverty and hunger because of their GM crops.
We also champion the right of anyone to know where GM crops are being grown in their area, challenging the secrecy of biotechnology companies and the governments that support them. Revealing the locations of GM crops is important for those concerned about health risks and for farmers worried about contamination.
Exposing contamination scandals
But like a particularly malevolent genie which has been let out of the bottle, GM contamination of conventional crops is already widespread and farmers in China, Thailand, Hawaii and the US mainland have been badly hit. We expose contamination scandals when they occur, and work with farmers and farming organisations to help prevent them in the first place.
Behind the scenes, we lobby governments and international bodies such as the World Trade Organisation to put environmental concerns ahead of those of corporate fat-cats who want to make a fast buck at the expense of the environment and our own health.
