press releases

Following the Government report released today by MAFF, Greenpeace called for action to reduce chemicals in food by providing further funding for research into sustainable organic farming methods.

"This level of chemicals in our food is the inevitable result of fifty years of industrial agriculture in the UK. The solution is not just more testing but changing agricultural policy. The public want to know they are eating healthy produce. This means going organic," said Greenpeace director, Dr Doug Parr.

Moscow/Vienna, September 16, 1999 --- The US is exporting genetically engineered maize to Russia in violation of Russian legislation revealed Greenpeace today in Vienna. Laboratory tests conducted for Greenpeace confirm that an US maize shipment to Russia in early August contained unauthorised Novartis GE maize.

Today's revelations that BNFL falsified safety records on plutonium fuel threatens to cripple its future plutonium business. The first shipment of plutonium fuel (MOX) from Sellafield is currently only a week away from arrival in Japan but may now have to be sent back to the UK for additional safety checks. The Japanese Science and Environment body (MITI) has ordered that the safety checks must take place before the plutonium fuel is used. BNFL's Japanese customers are reported to be flying to Sellafield for urgent discussions.

Vienna, September 15, 1999 - Whilst faux premiers & vegetables dance in 3/4 time, Greenpeace today demanded that delegates gathered in Vienna for the Biosafety Protocol negotiations set strong environmental controls for genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

September 1999 - Solar energy could become competitive in the short-term with conventional electricity, according to a report by business consultants and accountancy firm KPMG, commissioned by Greenpeace.

Greenpeace dismissed calls today by Sir Richard Sykes, chairman of Glaxo Wellcome, that the Government should continue to conduct GM experiments in secret. The respected John Innes Research Institute has pointed out that "Once GM crops are released they, like all crops, cannot be completely contained". This means that they will lead to the contamination of organic and non-GM crops.

Greenpeace deeply regrets agrochemical company AgrEvo's announcement today (10th September 1999) that it has planted three farm-scale trials of GM winter oilseed rape despite overwhelming public opposition to the trials.

Following the re-establishment of a parliament on the island of St Kilda last month, two of its founder members have fulfilled the participant's pledge to give everyone a say in the debate about the future of the islands. Donna Brown and Norman Chalmers, two descendants of St Kilda's original population, today started the first-ever public consultation on the new oil developments threatening the islands, by casting the first votes in the referendum.

Greenpeace today described the Government's decision to plant four further GM farm scale test sites in the UK as inappropriate and irresponsible.

SY Rainbow Warrior