***** war in the English countryside

Carl Remick cremick at rlmnet.com
Fri Jul 30 07:45:48 PDT 1999



> A straw poll of the Greenpeace members who wrote into the Guardian the
> day after Melchett's stunt showed that every one was opposed to Lord
> Melchett's act of vandalism against a rival farmer.

You're right, Jim. This was worse than a crime; it was a blunder (though it did have comic overtones -- Melchett's run-in with the combative Brothers Brigham seemed like something scripted by the old Ealing Studios).

An example of Greenpeace at its best appears in the Wall Street Journal today: "Gerber Baby Food, Grilled by Greenpeace, Plans Swift Overhaul -- Gene-Modified Corn and Soy Will Go, Although Firm Feels Sure They Are Safe." Greenpeace managed to get Gerber to stop using GM ingredients simply through deft, well targeted correspondence. Melchett clearly pulled off a PR debacle, pressing all the wrong buttons with the public -- affronting sturdy yeomanry like Brighams, with their 300 years of sweat equity at Walnut Tree Farm, yadda-yadda.

I'll add my boilerplate: GM foods, if they are needed, can wait until after the revolution, when there is no chance that the profit motive will taint any
> SCIENTIFIC TEST to uncover the side-effects, if any, of GM
> Maize.

Carl



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