RTw 28.01.97 17:55
Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.
By Peter Blackburn
BRUSSELS, Jan 28 (Reuter) - Protesters demonstrated in front of multinational food companies in nine European countries on Tuesday as the environmental group Greenpeace reignited its campaign against the sale of genetically modified food.
Greenpeace said hundreds of activists blockaded the entrances and unfurled banners at the national offices of Unilever, Danone and Nestle in Belgium, Italy, Germany, Austria, Finland, France, Spain, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
"We shall continue the protests until we have a guarantee from these companies that they will stop using genetically modified soy in their food products," Greenpeace campaigner Jon Walter said, speaking by phone from Amsterdam.
In March, the EU approved imports of modified soybean from the United States that had been genetically altered by Monsanto Co to make them resistant to a herbicide. The soybeans are processed into cooking and salad oil and into meal to feed animals. Walter said the multinationals had the power to demand and obtain gene-free raw materials which would not endanger human and animal health or the environment. He warned the protests would be extended to more crops, saying: "Modified maize is the next target."
The last major Greenpeace protest was on December 12 when it demonstrated in Germany and the Netherlands against transgenic animal feed grains. In Belgium, Greenpeace activists built a wall of 200 sacks of natural soybeans across the entrance to Unilever's office, chained up the gates and waved a banner saying "No genetic experiment with our food."
A few activists were allowed inside the building to deliver a pile of protest letters, but a spokesman for Unilever headquarters in Rotterdam said the company's position on the altered soybeans was unchanged. "Unilever believes these products are totally safe but it is up to individual operating companies in each country to decide whether or not to use them," spokesman Frank van Ooyen said. In France, Greenpeace said police were called to remove activists demonstrating at food company Danone, but elsewhere the protests were generally peaceful.
In Frankfurt, Germany, Greenpeace protested outside the German headquarters of Nestle Deutschland AG over the use of transgenic soybeans. "Nestle can't and won't guarantee consumers that its products are free from genetically altered soybeans," campaigner Dieke Bobbink said by telephone from outside Nestle.
In Italy, Greenpeace protesters hung a banner across the top of a Nestle factory in Milan, witnesses said. "This is a serious form of discrimination against Italian consumers who stated that they do not want to eat unnatural food, whose effects on human health are unknown," said Alessandro Gianni, a spokesman for Greenpeace Italy.
Nestle, the world's largest food company, has insisted that genetically modified soybeans are safe and of high quality and it intended to use them in its products despite the protests. Its German arm, however, has agreed not to use the beans.
In Switzerland, a Nestle spokesman said around 20 demonstrators protested in front of the company's headquarters in Vevey but left voluntarily after around two hours.
REUTER