GM Watch
  • Main Menu
    • Home
    • News
      • Newsletter subscription
      • News Reviews
      • News Languages
        • Notícias em Português
        • Nieuws in het Nederlands
        • Nachrichten in Deutsch
      • Archive
    • Articles
      • GM Myth Makers
      • GM Reports
      • GM Quotes
      • GM Myths
      • Non-GM successes
      • GM Firms
        • Monsanto: a history
        • Monsanto: resources
        • Bayer: a history
        • Bayer: resources
    • Videos
      • Latest Videos
      • Must see videos
      • Agriculture videos
      • Labeling videos
      • Animals videos
      • Corporations videos
      • Corporate takeover videos
      • Contamination videos
      • Latin America videos
      • India videos
      • Asia videos
      • Food safety videos
      • Songs videos
      • Protests videos
      • Biofuel myths videos
      • Index of GM crops and foods
      • Index of speakers
      • Health Effects
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donations
News and comment on genetically modified foods and their associated pesticides    
  • News
    • Newsletter subscription
    • News Reviews
    • News Languages
      • Notícias em Português
      • Nieuws in het Nederlands
      • Nachrichten in Deutsch
    • Archive
  • Articles
    • GM Myth Makers
    • GM Reports
    • GM Quotes
    • GM Myths
    • Non-GM successes
    • GM Firms
      • Monsanto: a history
      • Monsanto: resources
      • Bayer: a history
      • Bayer: resources
  • Donations
  • Videos
    • Index of speakers
    • Glyphosate Videos
    • Latest Videos
    • Must see videos
    • Health Effects
    • Agriculture videos
    • Labeling videos
    • Animals videos
    • Corporations videos
    • Corporate takeover videos
    • Contamination videos
    • Latin America videos
    • India videos
    • Asia videos
    • Food safety videos
    • Songs videos
    • Protests videos
    • Biofuel myths videos
    • Index of GM crops and foods
  • Contact
  • About
SUBSCRIBE TO REVIEWS

GMWatch Facebook cornfield banner

INTRODUCTION TO GM

GMO Myths and Facts front page.jpg

SCIENCE SUPPORTS REGULATION OF GENE EDITING

Plant tissue cultures

GENE EDITING: UNEXPECTED OUTCOMES AND RISKS

Damaged DNA on fire

GENE EDITING MYTHS AND REALITY

A guide through the smokescreen

Gene Editing Myths and Reality

ON-TARGET EFFECTS OF GENE EDITING

Damaged DNA

News Menu

  • Latest News
  • News Reviews
  • Archive
  • Languages

News Archive

  • 2022 articles
  • 2021 articles
  • 2020 articles
  • 2019 articles
  • 2018 articles
  • 2017 articles
  • 2016 articles
  • 2015 articles
  • 2014 articles
  • 2013 articles
  • 2012 articles
  • 2011 articles
  • 2010 articles
  • 2009 articles
  • 2008 articles
  • 2007 articles
  • 2006 articles
  • 2005 articles
  • 2004 articles
  • 2003 articles
  • 2002 articles
  • 2001 articles
  • 2000 articles

Please support GMWatch

Donations

You can donate via Paypal or credit/debit card.

Some of you have opted to give a regular donation. This is greatly appreciated as it helps place us on a more stable financial basis. Thank you for your support!

GM corn protesters send message

  • Print
  • Email
Details
Published: 01 August 2005
Twitter

OPINIONS SOUGHT ON GMOs:

Do you think GM foods are a boon or bane to humans? Please include your name and country in your reply.

You can link off the page below or e-mail
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

EXCERPT FROM ARTICLE: "They will set up a monopoly situation here," he said. "It's like in India or South America. People from there say sooner or later that you lose your farm because you can't compete anymore. I don't want that so I'm going to throw them out." - small farmer, Martin Piprek, talking about Monsanto

For more on the action:
http://www.gendreck-weg.de
------

GM corn protesters send message
Deutsche Welle-WORLD english
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1664782,00.html

The issue of genetically-modified corn strikes a nerve with many Europeans. To vent their indignation about the lifting of a moratorium, ecology campaigners protested at a GM cornfield near Berlin.

On Sunday, up to 400 ecology campaigners from western Europe flocked to a small village some 40 kilometers (25 miles) outside of Berlin to join forces for a protest action which they called "voluntary field liberation." Their plan was to symbolically destroy some genetically modified (GM) corn in a field outside of the village Hohenstein.

One organizer, Michael Grolm, said the protesters did not come to destroy the crops in the field, but the provocative nature of the name, directed towards a farmer who is growing GM corn on his land, forced police to counter with a strong presence. According to Grolm, the large number of police officers needed to protect the relatively small parcel of land meant the protest was a success.

In his words, farmers and companies who want to propagate the advantages of GM grains, will have a "difficult time" if so many police officers are needed to protect farmland where GM crops are supposed to be grown.

Protesters see two-fold danger

[image caption: "Opponents feel that not enough research has been done to assure that genetically modified grain, here soy beans, is safe"]

Ecology proponents and anti-globalization protesters showed up from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and France to demonstrate against what they believe to be a two-fold danger brought on by an increased usage of GM crops.

Some were enraged by the fact that the cornfield directly neighbors a natural park, calling it a provocation.

"It isn't clear what genetically modified grains do," said Martin Piprek, a local farmer who spearheaded the campaign in Hohenstein.

Piprek said that he has heard of studies that some species crucial to ecosystems, such as butterflies, have been dying at much higher rates than usual when farmers grow GM crops in their fields.

While some demonstrators were concerned about the possible health hazards and/or effects to human genetic material, others saw the spread of GM corn in another light, namely the light of bright money.

"Many people concentrate on the food aspect," said Christoph Asseuer. "I'd rather concentrate on the fact of a monopoly that a certain corporation holds on the seeds (...) The variety of seeds is in great danger of being throttled by the attempt to monopolize certain seeds and take certain seeds out of the market."

Monsanto bears responsibility

Asseuer didn't specifically name which company he was talking about, but the one bearing the brunt of attacks from most GM opponents is Monsanto.

As a small farmer, Martin Piprek also saw sinister motives behind Monsanto's GM marketing.

"They will set up a monopoly situation here," he said. "It's like in India or South America. People from there say sooner or later that you lose your farm because you can't compete anymore. I don't want that so I'm going to throw them out."

Hardy Graupner

Menu

Home

Subscriptions

News Archive

News Reviews

Videos

Articles

GM Myth Makers

GM Reports

GM Myths

GM Quotes

Non-GM Successes

Contacts

Contact Us

About

Facebook

Twitter

Donations

Content 1999 - 2022 GMWatch.
Web Development By SCS Web Design