MF's Öko Corner
The more powerful the opponent, the sweeter the win: After a four-month campaign — replete with hip hop dancing chickens planted in front of stores and copious petitions — Greenpeace brought a world commercial giant to its knees. As of April 1, German McDonald’s restaurants will no longer serve poultry that was raised on genetically manipulated feed. “McDonald’s has now received the message loud and clear that no one wants to eat genetically manipulated food, regardless of whether it lands on the table by way of a third party in the form of Chicken McNuggets,” says a pleased Imke Ide, genetics expert for Greenpeace.The “anti-genetech” movement is not only taking place in Europe — skepticism has finally reached U.S. shores. A recent boycott in America shook food manufacturers. Some 300 products, made from genetically manipulated “Starlink” corn variety, were pulled from store shelves — a recall that will cost the U.S. government up to one billion dollars. Starlink is manufactured by German-French grain seed conglomerate Aventis, and is intended to be used as animal feed only — not for human consumption.
Last September, Kraft recalled three million bags of “Taco Bell” chips. It seems Americans had become rattled over a fairly unspectacular event: a testing laboratory announced that the larva of the magnificent Monarch butterfly could be destroyed by the built-in pest protection found in the pollen of genetically manipulated corn. Actually, after one year of research, scientists have not been able to prove that there is, in fact a high risk of killing the Monarch. Proof to the contrary can also not be substantiated.
If you would like to learn more about these topics, visit www.greenpeace.org or, better yet, become a member!
