Cows in Cardiff deliver GM cowpat awards

Last edited: 01-03-2005

A herd of costume cows and milkmen and women hit the streets of Cardiff to protest supermarkets selling genetically modified (GM) milk in Wales. The campaigning cows toured Cardiff over the weekend in an open top bus visiting supermarkets of Asda, Tesco and Safeway all of which continue to use GM animal feed for their dairy herds. The worst offenders were awarded the "Greenpeace Cowpat Award for Supporting GM milk".

Although shoppers in Wales have said they don't want food containing any GM ingredients, the cows that produce the milk you buy in supermarkets like Asda and Tesco are still being fed imported GM feed. As there is little chance of GM crops being grown commercially in Wales this feed is the last loophole for GM to contaminate the food chain. Unless supermarkets stop selling their GM milk, Wales can never be truly GM-free.

The star of the day was Maizy, our milkfloat. Decked out with fake fur, lashs and an udder, when she arrived at supermarket car parks with Ride of the Valkyries blazing out of her speakers, the response from shoppers was little less than jaw-dropping, gob-smacked awe. The cows and milkmen and women made shoppers cups of tea with GM-free milk and had many customers sign postcards demanding supermarket managers stop supporting GM milk.

Greenpeace Campaigner Ben Ayliffe said, "We're here in Cardiff to give out the Greenpeace Cowpat Awards for supporting GM milk and to expose supermarkets that are sneaking GM milk into shoppers' baskets. Most people out doing their weekly shop would be horrified to know that they've been pouring GM milk on their cornflakes. People in Wales have said no to GM and it's time supermarkets like Asda, Tesco and Safeway ditched their GM milk."

Supermarkets like Asda, Tesco and Safeway have made no effort to stop selling GM-milk. The GM crops that these supermarkets use comes from the US where studies have shown GM has harmed the environment. Other supermarkets such as Marks & Spencers have shown the way forward by only selling milk from cows fed on non-GM. A recent Greenpeace report has shown that retailers could easily take GM out of their dairy feed at no extra cost to customers or farmers.

Come on greenpeace-justify the immense amonut of cash you get from the public and tell the world that ALL dairy production is bad for humans, cows and the entire planet. NOT just GM FFS!

well done grenpeace, rather than concentrating on one at a time, at least for that weekend by targetting sainsbury's, let start on all the others and shift the pressure! hooray, another victory for the capitalist system!