Greens drum up support against GM crops
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
04.04.2012 10:03
Environmentalists banged a giant drum outside the Prime Minister's Office in Warsaw, Tuesday, calling for a ban on genetically modified (GMO) maze.
photo - PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Several hundred activists from Greenpeace and other organisations protested from dawn to dusk yesterday.
"We banged the drum in the rhythm of a heartbeat to move the heart of the prime minister and ministers to implement the ban," said Greenpeace spokesman Jacek Winiarski.
Some of the railway workers who were also protesting outside the PM's Office, demanding better safety on Poland's railway network, also joined the protest, Winiarski claimed.
The environmentalists wanted a particular ban on the modified maize crop MON 810 being cultivated in Poland.
“This is one of only two varieties of GM crops allowed to be grown in Europe,” the Greenpeace spokesman said.
The activists handed in a petition with 40,000 signatures calling for the ban.
MON 810, developed by the Monsanto company, was approved for use in the European Union in 1998, but since then, several countries - Austria, Hungary, Greece, France, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Germany - have banned its use.
The Environment Ministry said that it will be meeting with representatives of the Green movement to discuss GM crops on 11 April. (pg)