Originally published November 25 2010
Citizens fight back by uprooting GMO crop fields
by David Gutierrez, staff writer
(NaturalNews) The practice of citizens uprooting fields of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) may be undergoing a resurgence, reports the blog Food Freedom.
In the 1990s, activists across Europe regularly uprooted fields of GMO crops. Farmers in India burned fields of Monsanto's Bt cotton (which is engineered to produce pesticide in its tissues), objecting that they had not been warned they were planting experimental crops.
"Despite the heavy use of chemical fertilizer, traces of which still can be observed in the field, the Bt plants grew miserably, less than half the size of the traditional cotton plants in the adjacent fields," the Cremate Monsanto campaign said.
On August 15, 2010, French activists uprooted a field of GMO grape vines in plain view of police. The vines had already been cut down in 2009, after which security measure were installed. For their return visit, 60 activists managed to get through the gate and lock it behind them, trapping police outside the field. The activists condemned the used of public funding for open-field tests of GMOs "that we do not want."
Only one month earlier, activists in Spain destroyed two separate experimental GMO crops.
"This kind of direct action is the best way to respond to the fait accompli policy through which the Generalitat, the State and the biotech multinationals have been unilaterally imposing genetically modified organisms," they said in an anonymous communiqu�.
After Monsanto offered 475 tons of GMO seed in relief following the recent earthquake in Haiti, farmers marched in protest of the "poison gift," saying it would make them dependent on international companies.
GMO crops are controversial for their ability to crossbreed with other crops, producing "genetic pollution." In addition, the health consequences of consuming such food is unknown.
"Estimates suggest that 80 percent of the soy production in the United States is genetically modified and over half of the corn planted in the country has been genetically modified �," write Brenda Watson and Leonard Smith in their book The Detox Strategy.
"The only way you can be certain you are not eating a GM food is to eat only organic food."
Sources for this story include:
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/....
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