Monsanto's aggressive expansion and marketing campaigns in Brazil and India have led to open conflict with even the respective governments, which clearly have more bottle than our government does. Indian farmers were bombarded with flashy advertising, sales promotions and sponsorship of events, in the name of buying Monsanto's GM cotton seeds. They came to me but the damage had been done. When they buy the big seed companies, it creates the suspicion that agriculture is becoming proprietory, that science is not in the public good. We are afraid of these large companies.
Ethics is important.
When faced with such state madness, it becomes understandable how responsible citizens might feel that to commit criminal damage against a GM 'test' site is the only option left open to them. It was interesting to see what became of the request, by the Agriculture Ministry's Central Science Laboratory, that the Church Commissioners allow their land be used for GM trials. However, a degree of integrity prevailed, and the Commissioners' Ethical Investment Working Group decided to put off a decision until they had completed a full inquiry into the issues. But God is dead, and we shall need more than theology to exorcise the lobbyists from government. 2.3.94, The Times 26.2.94.