Monsanto demands names of anti-GM handbook owners

19 April 1999

Monsanto demands names of anti-GM handbook owners

By FWi staff

MONSANTO has applied to the High Court for the power to identify the recipients of a campaign handbook from the environmental group Genetix Snowball.

The Handbook for Action, published last December, includes a guide to identifying and destroying trial sites of genetically modified (GM) crops.

Monsanto has threatened legal action against Genetix Snowball if anyone reading the handbook subsequently uproots GM crops or trespasses on GM test sites.

The biotechnology giant was last year granted an injunction preventing six members of Genetix Snowball from encouraging others to damage its GM crops.

The civil rights group Liberty has described Monsantos attempt to force Genetix Snowball to identify the recipients of the handbook as “very worrying”.

Monsanto said it had a duty to ensure that everyone who had received the handbook also received a copy of any relevant court order.