Greenpeace campaign: Cologne Cathedral as a symbol of protest against genetic manipulation of plants and animals.
Cologne, 26th March 1997. 50 activists from the environmental protection organisation Greenpeace today demonstrated in and around Cologne Cathedral against genetic manipulation of living creatures.
Greenpeace members climbed up the exterior of the two towers of the Cathedral, attaching a banner with the words
"Man is not God - down with genetic manipulation".
Greenpeace considers the numerous genetic engineering projects to constitute a threat to biodiversity, ecological systems and hence also creation. "We do not want to attack the Catholic church," says Joerg Naumann, genetic engineering expert at Greenpeace, "we merely want to show that we have reached a cross-roads. If we don't do something now, genetic engineering will pervade our entire lives and not just our food."
Greenpeace has been fighting for months to prevent the introduction of genetically engineered soybeans in food. As recently as on 21st March, Toblerone chocolate in Switzerland was found to contain genetically engineered soybeans, forcing the producer to withdraw roughly 500 tons of chocolate from the market. Greenpeace is also attempting to prevent the cultivation of genetically engineered maize in Europe, contending that Europeans must be given the choice between genetically engineered and natural food.
Most of the genetic engineering projects in the agricultural industry do not have any benefits for consumers. All they do is boost the profits of chemical companies such as Monsanto or Novartis (Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz).
The cloning of Dolly the sheep proves that there are no limits to the experiments performed by scientists on genetic material. Dolly merely involved the transfer of genetic material in sheep. However, researchers in Poland are already experimenting with human growth genes in carp, while scientists in Scotland are implanting human genes in cattle. These super-animals and plants pose a threat to agricultural biodiversity and the wealth of life in natural ecological systems. The chemical companies will not abandon these projects unless they are unable to sell any genetically engineered products, e.g. in the food area.
To this end, the concentrated resistance of our entire society is necessary. Here as well, Greenpeace sees the church as having an ethic duty to support the opponents of genetic engineering.
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