Monsanto in Frying-Pan Over Terminator Technology in New Zealand
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On September 30th in Auckland, New Zealand, Monsanto officials again found
themselves in the frying pan, when the Terminator ruined a pro-biotech 'tea
party' that was supposed to promote genetically engineered crops. The
half-day seminar was set up by Gene Pool, a local government-funded NGO
with tight corporate links. The event was going as planned, with attendees
delving into numerous rounds of food and drink, watching a Monsanto video
extolling the company's virtues, and hearing a series of predictable
speeches, when Auckland University lecturer Peter Wills took the podium.
Wills was presumably invited as a token alternative view so that Gene Pool
could claim some semblance of balance in the meeting. Chris Wheeler, an
Auckland activist and past president of the New Zealand Soils and Health
Association, slipped into the pricey meeting on a press pass and reports
that Wills delivered much more than Gene Pool expected. After questioning
the wisdom of Monsanto's agbiotech strategies, which provoked many
concerned comments from the audience, Wheeler says things really got hot
when Wills blasted the Terminator. At that point, a visibly flustered
Murray Willocks, Monsanto's New Zealand Business Manager, took the floor
and tried to distance the company from its own technology, saying "The
Terminator is just a concept." and "We have no plans for the Terminator
Technology at this time."
Wheeler's account of the ensuing exchange is that the red-faced Willocks
"went into confused messages mode, trying to establish the impression that
Monsanto had acquired the technology merely as a spin-off from a recent
acquisition [Delta and Pine Land] and that there were no direct plans to
actually use it." At the meeting's end, Wills was surrounded by attendees
wanting to talk about the Terminator.
More information about Monsanto Terminator Seed Dangers.
[Posted by Chris Wheeler]