Federal police raid Greenpeace offices after GM crops destroyed

Shortly before noon on July 21, officers from the Australian Federal Police raided and shut down the Sydney offices of Greenpeace Australia Pacific, confiscating material but making no arrests.

The raid was conducted in relation to an "alleged trespass and property damage” on July 14, when Greenpeace activists in Hazmat suits used whipper-snippers to destroy a CSIRO trial of genetically modified (GM) wheat being grown near Ginninderra in Canberra’s north.

Greenpeace claimed that the wheat was planned for secret human trials later this year, but had already caused allergic reactions in mice.

According to the CSIRO, however, the wheat was not transgenic, and that wheat genes had simply been slightly modified to lower the glycaemic index and increase fibre in order to improve bowel health and increase nutritional value.

Greenpeace also accused the CSIRO of a conflict of interest because two directors of Nufarm – the exclusive distributor for the US-based biotech giant Monsanto in Australia – sat on the CSIRO board when the wheat trial was approved.

Trials of GM wheat and barley have also begun near Narrabri in NSW, as well as in Western Australia. The Western Australian trials are being run by Intergrain, a company co-owned by Monsanto.

In South Australia, GM wheat trials are being run by the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG), whose board includes Joshua Hoffheimer – a lawyer for Monsanto – and former Monsanto employee Mark Tester.

Greenpeace disputed that the trials represent independent science, arguing that the US, Russia, Canada and the EU have already rejected GM wheat, and claiming that “Monsanto and others are in Australia because our weak regulations give them free reign.“

"The only reason our CSIRO is putting it in the ground is because they've been bought out by foreign GM companies," Greenpeace campaigner Laura Kelly told News.com.au.

Freedom Of Information requests by Greenpeace regarding the safety of human trials and requesting details of commercial links between the CSIRO and foreign biotech companies were rejected as being “commercial in confidence” shortly before the action.

Greenpeace spokesperson Steve Campbell said in a statement that the organisation would cooperate with police, but called for more attention to be paid to the risks posed by GM crops and foods.