[cdn-nucl-l] Fw: Patrick Moore slams Greenpeace

["Jerry Cuttler" <jerrycuttler@home.com>]

FYI

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brown, Morgan" <
To: "Cuttler Jerry (home) (E-mail)" <jerrycuttler@home.com>; et al
Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2001 1:02 PM
Subject: Patrick Moore slams Greenpeace


I like Moore's comment that Greenpeace has evolved into "a band of
scientific illiterates who use Gestapo tactics to silence people who wish to
express their views in a civilized forum"

Morgan
---------------------------------------------

National Post,  October 20, 2001

Children blinded by Greenpeace!
Co-founder ready to organize protest against Greenpeace

Patrick Moore
National Post
Earlier this week, Greenpeace activists in Paris successfully prevented me
from speaking, from Vancouver via videoconference, to 400 delegates of the
European Seed Association. The Greenpeacers chained themselves to the seats
in the Cine Cite Bercy auditorium and threatened to shout down the speakers.
The conference organizers decided to retreat to the Sofitel Hotel, where
many of them were staying. The auditorium is in a very important building
and they did not want their conference to be associated with an incident
there. As the Sofitel does not have videoconferencing capability, my keynote
presentation was cancelled.

When I helped to create Greenpeace from a church basement in Vancouver in
1971, I had no idea that I would spend the next 15 years as an international
director and leader of many Greenpeace campaigns. I also had no idea that
after I left in 1986 they would evolve into a band of scientific illiterates
who use Gestapo tactics to silence people who wish to express their views in
a civilized forum. And I could never have guessed that my former colleague
and then teen-age founder of Greenpeace France, Remi Parmentier, would be
the one issuing the orders to silence me.

Over the years, Remi has risen to the title of Political Director for
Greenpeace International. (Remi is so political that when François
Mitterrand led the socialists to power in France he suddenly became a
defender of French nuclear testing in the South Pacific.) He has fought
tirelessly against the reprocessing of nuclear waste, a campaign that I have
some sympathy for. He has also directed the effort to prevent deep-sea
disposal of harmless oil storage platforms in the Atlantic Ocean. This has
resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars wasted for no good purpose. I
imagine his intentions were good even though his priorities were misguided.
But even if his intentions are good, he and his chain gang have no right to
deny freedom of assembly and freedom of speech by free people in a
democracy.

The issue, in this case, is the application of biotechnology to agriculture,
genetic modification in particular. The conference in Paris was the coming
together of delegates from seed companies, biotechnology companies,
government agencies involved in regulation, and others from across Europe.
The purpose of their gathering was to discuss the role of biotechnology in
the future of agriculture, surely a topic covered by the rules of free
speech.

As a long-time leader of Greenpeace in its formative years, and as someone
who supports using biotechnology for the good of human welfare and the
environment, I had been invited to give a presentation via videoconference
from Vancouver. I would have told the assembled that the accusations of
Frankenstein food and killer tomatoes are as much a fantasy as the Hollywood
movies they are borrowed from. I would have argued that if putting a
daffodil gene in rice can prevent half a million children from blindness
each year then we should move forward carefully to develop the Golden Rice.
I would have told them that Greenpeace policy on genetics lacks any respect
for logic or science.

A few days ago the European Commission released the results of 81 scientific
studies on genetically modified organisms conducted by over 400 research
teams at a cost of US$65-million. The studies, which covered all areas of
concern, have "not shown any new risks to human health or the environment,
beyond the usual uncertainties of conventional plant breeding. Indeed, the
use of more precise technology and the greater regulatory scrutiny probably
make them even safer than conventional plants and foods." Clearly, my former
Greenpeace colleagues are either not reading the morning paper or simply
don't care about the truth. And they choose to forcibly silence those of us
who do care about the truth.

In response to Greenpeace's scandalous attacks on the promising development
of Golden Rice, one of its inventors, Ingo Potrykus, accused Greenpeace of
"crimes against humanity." I agree with him. But how can we fight back
without resorting to crimes of our own?

What if 100 research scientists walked into a Greenpeace International
meeting, chained themselves to the place, then called the media and stated
their demands? Among those demands would be a promise not to prevent people
from free assembly and free speech. What if those same scientists were to
hang huge banners reading Greenpeace is Wrong about Biotechnology; Fight
Anthrax, Not Corn; Millions of Children Condemned to Blindness by
Greenpeace; etc.

I would be happy to help organize such an event.

Patrick Moore is co-founder of Greenpeace and president of Greenspirit
(www.greenspirit.com).