A herd of costume cows and milkmen and women hit the streets of Cardiff to protest about supermarkets selling genetically modified (GM) milk in Wales. The campaigning cows will be touring Cardiff in an open top bus and visiting supermarkets that continue to use GM animal feed for their dairy herds. The worst offenders will be awarded the "Greenpeace Cowpat Award for Supporting GM milk".
Although shoppers in Wales have said they don't want food containing any GM ingredients, the cows that produce the milk you buy in supermarkets like Asda and Tesco are still being fed imported GM feed. As there is little chance of GM crops being grown commercially in Wales this feed is the last loophole for GM to contaminate the food chain. Unless supermarkets stop selling their GM milk, Wales can never be truly GM-free.
Greenpeace Campaigner Ben Ayliffe said, "We're here in Cardiff today to give out the Greenpeace Cowpat Awards for supporting GM milk and to expose supermarkets that are sneaking GM milk into shoppers' baskets. Most people out doing their weekly shop would be horrified to know that they've been pouring GM milk on their cornflakes. People in Wales have said no to GM and it's time supermarkets like Asda, Tesco and Safeway ditched their GM milk."
Joining the cows will be Maizy, the Greenpeace GM-free milk float, which has been redecorated in cow style - complete with fake fur and udders. Maizy will be outside Cardiff supermarkets with Greenpeace milkmen and women who will be making shoppers cups of tea with GM-free milk and asking them to sign postcards demanding supermarket managers stop supporting GM milk.
Supermarkets like Asda, Tesco and Safeway have made no effort to stop selling GM-milk. The GM crops that these supermarkets use comes from the US where studies have shown GM has harmed the environment.(1) Other supermarkets such as Marks & Spencers have shown the way forward by only selling milk from cows fed on non-GM. A recent Greenpeace report has shown that retailers could easily take GM out of their dairy feed at no extra cost to customers or farmers.(2)
Ben Ayliffe added, "Our research shows that supermarkets can move to GM-free milk and it will hardly cost them a penny. Unless they stop selling this GM milk, our food chain will continue to be contaminated and Wales won't be really GM-free. The vast majority of Welsh shoppers want GM-free milk and supermarkets ought to respond to this."
For more information contact Ben Ayliffe on 07801 212 994 or Marge Glynn 07932 897315
Notes
(1) Guardian article: GM crops linked to rise in pesticide use
(2) Download the report GM and dairy cow feed - Steps to a GM-free future for the UK dairy industry as a pdf
