Anti-GM protestors invade MAFF
23 May 2000
Anti-GM protestors invade MAFF
By FWi staff
PROTESTORS have stormed the Ministry of Agriculture in London in protest at the governments handling of the fiasco over GM-contaminated oilseed rape.
Up to 20 environmental campaigners occupied MAFF headquarters at Nobel House, Smith Square, London, on the afternoon of Tuesday (23 May).
As many as 600 British farmers are thought to have unwittingly planted up to 15,000 hectares of GM oilseed rape from seed supplied by Advanta Seeds UK.
The protestors entered the lobby of the MAFF building and chained themselves together with bicycle locks, refusing to move until the crops were removed.
Lucy Michaels, one of the protestors, said: “This contamination is all too convenient to the Government and the GM industry.
“The so-called accident seems to be a plot to force Parliament, farmers and the public to accept GM food and crops and a reduction in GM-Free standards.
“This deceitful and undemocratic strategy must not be allowed to succeed”.
In a statement, the protestors said their action was against “the governments involvement in the deliberate and illegal genetic contamination of the countryside”.
They unfurled a banner urging the government to “Pull Up and Pay Up” and demanded full compensation for all the farmers who planted GM rape.