Seven hours after chaining themselves at Bayer's door, the activists brave the weather and wait for Bayer's response - 5:45pm
11 hours after six Greenpeace activists chained themselves to
the gates of Bayer Crop Science headquarters in Mumbai yesterday,
demanding information on Bayer's recent dangerous experiments with
the infamous CRY 9C gene on popular food crops like cabbage and
cauliflower, the company responded with a statement that
contradicts itself even as it spins further untruths.
"The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has published an article
in Current Science , stating that Pro Agro (a wholly owned
subsidiary of Bayer) has conducted field trials of cabbage and
cauliflower genetically modified with the Cry9C gene , a potential
human allergen," said Divya Raghunandan, Greenpeace campaigner. "We
are concerned about the implications of these dangerous trials on
consumers and farmers who will grow these crops, and Greenpeace is
demanding that the company immediately stop all trials and make all
information related to any past trials open to public
scrutiny."
"The apathy and indifference of this company is unbelievable!"
said Divya Raghunandan, GE Campaigner, Greenpeace India, "They took
11 hours to eventually respond with half-truths and a logically
inconsistent statement. This statement only vindicates our stand
that we are dealing with an irresponsible corporation with many
skeletons to hide."
The official response from Bayer first states that it "has never
done trials involving Cry9C" and then states, "These trials were
conducted in a contained environment and were harvested well before
flowering."
The activists, who had earlier unfurled banners proclaiming
'Bayer poisons our food' eventually unchained themselves after
securing an appointment for Wednesday 6th October, a written
statement of the company's stand, and an assurance that their
questions would be answered. Although they ended the protest, they
did so only after unfurling another banner stating 'Bayer is a
Liar', in response to the statement issued by the company.
This Cry9C-laced corn, interestingly, was owned by Aventis Crop
Science (later acquired by Bayer), who marketed it under the brand
name StarLink for animal feed and industrial purposes. However in
September 2000, StarLink was found in corn taco shells and other
foods and the company was forced withdraw all products around the
world from the markets .
"Bayer is a repeat offender as far as poisoning our food goes,"
said Doreen Stabinsky, Scientific Advisor, Greenpeace
International, "Greenpeace has already exposed their double
standards with relation to the production and sale of Class I
pesticides that they have discontinued in their home country; Bayer
is again trying to poison Indians, by using a gene that's been
shown to be unsafe in the rest of the world and banned in the US
for human consumption."
For further information photos and video news releses, please
visit www.greenpeaceindia.org or contact:
Divya Raghunandan, GE Campaigner, Greenpeace India:
+919845535406, Namrata Chowdhary, Media Officer, Greenpeace India:
+919810850092, 
Notes to Editor
Footnote1: Agricultural Bio-technology Research in India; Status and Policies - Manju Sharma, K.S. Charak and T. V. Ramanaiah; CURRENT SCIENCE, Vol. 84, No.3, 10th February, 2003.
Footnote2: The Cry9C gene protein is notorious for being a suspected human allergen. The United States Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged this risk and refused to certify a version of corn genetically modified with this gene as fit for human consumption.
Footnote3: In March 2003 a food aid shipment to India from two US-based aid agencies (CARE and Catholic Relief Services) was suspected of being contaminated with StarLink corn. Responding to the warnings issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) took a stand against the shipment, and demanded that USA and the aid agencies provide certification for each consignment of corn-soya blend that it did NOT contain StarLink. Since none of the agencies were willing to certify this, the entire shipment was rejected outright.