GM protest as agriculture officials meet

An agriculture conference at which US officials will tell of advances in genetically engineered agriculture was getting under way today – after hundreds of protesters took to the streets.

Chanting, banging drums and carrying signs that read We Don’t Want to Eat Their Corporate Creations, the protesters yesterday swarmed the streets around the conference venues in Sacramento, California.

At least 11 people were arrested, charged with unlawful assembly, vandalism and possessing weapons, including a switchblade and other sharp objects, police said.

Agriculture officials from more than 100 nations were expected to attend the three-day Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology, which is sponsored by the US Department of Agriculture.

The conference convenes at a time when the debate over GM foods has reached a fever pitch.

The United States is demanding that the World Trade Organisation forces the European Union to end its ban on GM food. In the process, opposition to biotechnology is galvanising outside the United States, and, the protesters say, inside the country as well.

US officials say the conference is designed to help developing countries reduce hunger and improve nutrition using advanced technology.

But activists argue that biotechnology is not the antidote to the complex food problems facing developing nations. Instead, they fear the conference is an attempt by corporate farming and biotech interests to push into new markets.

“The policies they are talking about do not benefit poor people in the world, they benefit large agriculture companies,” said protester Eddy Jara, a 30-year-old nutritionist from Berkeley.