A mob of nearly 100 activists tore apart a crop field in England in an attack against genetic crop improvement. “The protesters, wearing masks, climbed over a fence and rampaged across the field,” Agence France Presse reports. “Then, on their hands and knees they ripped up the plants.”
It’s the latest “direct action” in a movement sparked by French anti-technology militant Jose Bove, who led attacks on a field of genetically improved rice and who rallied radical activists to rip apart a McDonald’s restaurant in 1999. When on trial for the attacks, Bove warned that his followers would continue their violent actions: “For us, this combat will not stop.”
One of the ringleaders behind the anti-biotech vandalism is Greenpeace, which has campaigned against genetically improved foods. What should you eat instead? “Buy organic (if you can afford it),” Greenpeace advises — inadvertently conceding that organic foods cost more. The question, then: If activists eliminate genetic improvement, and all that’s left is organic… what do you eat if you can’t afford it?
