St. Louis Post-Dispatch | October 17, 1999 | Bill Lambrecht, Terence Samuel, Philip Dine
Greenpeace urges Monsanto to take an organic turn. Robert B. Shapiro, the chief operating officer at Monsanto Co., said he wanted to open a dialogue when he spoke by satellite to a Greenpeace gathering in London this month. What Greenpeace has in mind may not be the sort of dialogue Monsanto intended. "I would be happy to work with Monsanto in turning this major biotechnology company into a credible organic venture," said Benny Haerlin, who heads the campaign.
Haerlin was asked if his 2.9 million-member organization always would oppose genetic modification of crops. "You should never say never," he said. "But I do know that at this point in our knowledge, it is not possible to assess the risks. ... We are not talking about a few more superficial tests that give us a few more superficial answers. We are talking about a long-term scientific project."
Greenpeace is, the story says, spending $ 250,000 on anti-GMO activities this year, an amount that Haerlin said will grow next year.
That does not include the salaries of 30 Greenpeace campaigners assigned to the task, he said.
