Home | Friday 9th May 2008 | Issue 631

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BOMB THE BASF

The bosses at BASF (‘the chemical company’) were in for a surprise on Tuesday morning as they found their UK HQ at Cheadle Hulme, Manchester, blockaded by Earth First activists locked onto the gate with a large banner demanding ‘Stop GM Now.’ The company is responsible for the only UK trials of GM crops in the open air this year.

Dozens of very expensive cars were turned away as the DNA meddlers were unable to get in to work. A few of the suits had tantrums and tried to drive in anyway but were stopped. Leaflets were distributed to the staff where they were sent to wait nearby.

One activist used a D-lock to attach himself to the only gate into the prestigious office compound, while others hung a huge banner nearby and sunbathed until the vegan cake ran out at midday and they all went home. The police agreed not to arrest anybody.

Activists estimate the unexpected closure will have significantly disrupted the business internationally as high level meetings will have been cancelled and orders delayed. The cost will reach into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Mary Sunderland from Earth First! Said: “GM has no part to play in our future: it’s a dangerous, unwanted and unproven technology geared towards maximising profits for multinational corporations such as BASF. It is not the answer to food shortages, hunger or climate change. The real solution is to change now to a sustainable farming system and to distribute resources fairly around the world.”

BASF want to plant their mutant spuds, deliberately infected with blight, 500metres from allotments in Histon, Cambridgeshire. Both the blight and the dodgy DNA could spread uncontrolled. Just about everybody worth the salt on their chips is determined to stop them – even McCain’s, the biggest buyer of potatoes in the UK, says there should be ‘consumer consent’ before the trials are allowed.

There will be a demo at the site of a trial BASF GM crop of potatoes at a Cambridgeshire site on June 1st – see updates in SchNEWS for time and place.

* For more see www.earthfirst.org.uk

* See also SchNEWS 583

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