Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street and local activist groups plan to mark the occasion by protesting biotechnology giant Monsanto.
Barbara Chicherio is with the Gateway Green Alliance, which opposes genetically modified organisms developed by St. Louis based Monsanto and other biotech companies.
She said tomorrow's protests will represent a shift within the Occupy movement to focus on specific issues.
“Occupy was very concerned with corporate control of the economy, the environment, and so we picked our own, homegrown corporation that we’re very concerned about,” Chicherio said. “So, I think it’s the philosophy of Occupy, but we’re really honing in on Monsanto.”
Organizers expect between 100 to 200 people to take part in protests, which will start tomorrow morning in downtown and wrap up outside Monsanto’s corporate headquarters in Creve Coeur in the afternoon.
Daniel Romano helped organize today’s protests and disputes claims that genetically modified food developed by Monsanto and other biotech companies pose no threat to the food supply.
“These things are not safe, and their widespread use is, we believe, opposed by the majority of people,” Romano said.
Monsanto and other biotechnology companies have long maintained that genetically modified organisms pose no threat to the food supply and are safe for human consumption.
