NOTE: Norway's regulators say ban BASF's GM potato http://bit.ly/kKE3mt Ask the
Swedish Government to do the same! http://bit.ly/lGuucI
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Greenpeace hinders BASF from planting risky GM-potato
Seven activists arrested - others keep blocking
Nedre Vojakkala, The municipality of Haparanda, June 9th 2011 - This morning
Greenpeace activists tied themselves to the tractor of the chemical company BASF
to stop them from planting their genetically modified potato (gm) called
Amflora. The company's risky activity was escorted by police. Seven Greenpeace
activists were arrested immediately but others made it to stop the tractor.
Greenpeace claims that the approval of Amflora is breaching EU law as the potato
comprises an antibiotic resistance gene which can have a negative impact on the
medical use of antibiotics in fighting diseases like tuberculosis. Greenpeace is
calling the Swedish government to ban Amflora just like other countries already
did and demands a withdrawal of the approval from the European Commission.
"The Commission rubberstamped the approval of risky Amflora and the Swedish
government did nothing but watching. So if they do not act, we have to act",
says Ludvig Tillman at Greenpeace Sweden.
Greenpeace activist were on the spot for three weeks already and blocked the
building in which the potato was stored. After they were arrested new Greenpeace
activists arrived and are now blocking the planting.
BASF claims that their potato is for industrial use only. But reality shows that
Amflora last year received an approval from the European Commission for
cultivation, processing, use as feed and even for use in food of up to 0.9%. In
other words: Amflora has the approval to contaminate the food chain.
Other European countries like Austria, Greece, Hungary and Luxembourg have
already banned the cultivation of Amflora on their territory. Hungary together
with other Member States has even filed a law case against the European
Commission to achieve the withdrawal of the approval.
"What we see here happening is that the profit interests of a company like BASF
is ranked higher than the health interests of the European public who by large
majority rejects the cultivation of GMOs" says Tillman concluding.
Contacts:
Spokesperson (on the location): Ludvig Tillman +46-702 71 64 37
GMO Campaigner: Akiko Frid +46-767 66 97 12
Media contact: Åsa Mendel-Hartvig +46-703 03 36 49
Images from the action here:
https://info.greenpeace.se/a_mediarelease/?openfolder=110519_Haparanda_Sweden_GMO_repository_blockade/
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