press releases

Greenpeace today welcomed a call by the National Farmers Union of Canada for "a moratorium on the production, importation, distribution, and sale of GM food".

Charlie Kronick, Greenpeace GM Campaigner said, "For the last 4 years, politicians and the NFU in the UK have said that if we fail to adopt GM crops that we'll lose out to our North American rivals. As the Canadian NFU has so clearly identified the environmental and economic drawbacks of GM, their call for a ban on GM foods sets exactly the kind of example that farmers, food producers and politicians should follow in this country".

Greenpeace called on the executive directors of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) meeting here today to delay their decision on whether to finance the two Chernobyl replacement reactors in the Ukraine, after a leaked government study revealed serious short-comings in the safety of the plants.

This meeting will be remembered as the moment when governments abandoned the promise of global co-operation to protect planet Earth.

Nearly ten years after the Rio Earth Summit, and three years after Kyoto, The Hague represents a U-turn. Rather than reducing emissions to curb global warming, greenhouse gas pollution limits will in fact be increased.

This morning Greenpeace delivered three tonnes of GM free turkey feed to the headquarters of Bernard Matthews.

Despite massive public rejection of GM food (1), GM is still sneaking into the UK and being fed to animals. Bernard Matthews is one of a number of top UK food companies which continue to use GM animal feed in the production of their food products. These companies claim that it is impossible to buy GM free animal feed.

Greenpeace climbers involved in the Eco-Chicken invasion of the Cargill GM soya factory in Liverpool Docks yesterday were served with an injunction this morning ordering them to leave. The climbers are now complying with this injunction and have descended from their perch in order to leave the premises.

The climbers were part of a team of 60 Greenpeace volunteers who invaded the Cargill plant yesterday. The other volunteers, dressed in chicken costumes, were ejected yesterday with eight arrests. Four chickens were charged with aggravated trespass after locking themselves onto a conveyor belt that carries GM soya for processing. They will appear at Sefton Magistrates court tomorrow (Wednesday 22 November at 13.45). The other four have been bailed to appear on 2 February 2001.

Fast food chain McDonalds is to ban meat, milk and eggs from farm animals fed on GM crops. The company is now asking its suppliers in the UK to find sources of animal feed that do not contain genetically modifed material.

The dramatic move will almost certainly force other fast food chains to go totally GM-free - Burger King in Germany and the UK has already announced that it will abandon products from animals fed a GM diet. The McDonalds announcement comes after a Greenpeace campaign to end the use of GM animal feed.

At 8.00 am this morning (Monday 20 November) sixty Greenpeace volunteers dressed as pantomime chickens invaded and shut down the UK's only GM soya mill. The invasion comes only days after fast food chain McDonalds announced that it was to ban meat from animals fed on GM.

The UK Government's climate change programme, published today, does little to break our economy's dependence on fossil fuels or to build a strong UK renewable energy industry, according to Greenpeace.

Fuel protest rally

Greenpeace campaigner Rob Gueterbock addressed the truckers rally in Hyde Park today and told the protestors that they were wrong to argue for lower taxes on dirty petrol and diesel but right to support new green alternative fuels.

Greenpeace challenges fuel blockaders and argues the case for maintaining current levels of fuel tax

Greenpeace campaigners at the fuel tax protest in Hyde Park today will try to persuade protestors that they are wrong to argue for lower taxes on dirty petrol and diesel but right to support new green alternative fuels.