public institution mandated to serve the people of California.
According to its publicity,
the College of Natural Resources is
committed to sustainability, the environment
and food safety.
Public research institutions should provide exactly that kind of "public good'' research, which the private sector cannot be expected to fund.
Public ownership, funding and oversight of university affairs require transparent
management,yet this deal was negotiated in secrecy.
Effective regulation of biotechnology in the coming century will require disinterested science.
This agreement would disqualify a leading
intellectual center from the ranks of institutions able to provide research free from vested interest.
We also cannot ignore the implications for
academic freedom in a college beholden to corporate interests.
Will professors be encouraged to research the impacts of Novartis'
technologies?
Hexterminator activist Super Seed Woman and Agent Tart Classiqué of the Biotic Baking Brigade being arrested at UC Berkeley for pieing the Dean of the School of Natural Science and the CEO of Novartis Corporation, one of the largest bio-engineering companies in the world. The Pumpkin Pie 2 chose to publicize that while UC Berkeley is cutting further secret biotech biz deals, 60% of the food at the average American's Thanksgiving table has already been genetically engineered.
PRESS RELEASE
November 23, 1998
Privatize This!
The anti-genetic engineering group Hexterminators teamed up with the Biotic Baking Brigade (BBB) today to offer their input on "strategic alliances" between public universities and multinational biotechnology corporations. Operation "Double Fudge" consisted of two phases:
Phase I, code-named "Privatize This!":
Berkeley
Shortly after an 11 A.M. press conference discussing a "strategic alliance" at University of California, Berkeley began, BBB Agent "Tart Classique" and Hexterminator activist "Super Seed Woman" delivered two delicious airborne vegan pumpkin pies to Douglas G. Watson, President and CEO of biotech giant Novartis, and Gordon Rausser, Dean of the College of Natural Resources at UC-Berkeley. Watson's pie hit its mark, while Rausser's pie nicked him and then found its resting place splattered across a university banner in the background. Both pie-slingers were detained, and will apparently be cited and released. The pumpkin pies symbolize the estimated 60% of food on American tables for Thanksgiving which will contain genetically-engineered products.
Phase II, code-named "Cow Pie Special":
Davis
At a campus "brown bag lunch," BBB Agent Cow dished up a lovely banana créme pie to UC-Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoof, also achieving pleasant and harmless facial deliverance. This special treat was served as a response to the UC-Davis "strategic alliance" with genetic-engineering pirate Monsanto, which will result in a new biotech research facility on campus. Agent Cow disappeared without a trace.
"We hold the University of California in flagrant contempt of its mission as a public interest institution by selling its facilities, services, and students to the world's largest biotechnology and agrochemical corporations, Novartis and Monsanto. This is completely unacceptable, especially at a time when both corporations face heated international criticism for their business practices. Novartis and Monsanto are playing with the basic building blocks of life, as well as the food security of millions across the globe. These corporations continue to give us lies, so we have no choice but to respond with pies. Clearly, November 23, 1998 will be remembered as a good day to pie," said Agent Apple of the BBB.
"We targetted Chancellor Vanderhoof, UC-Davis' head bovine, so that our message would be herd" commented Agent Cow. "He has consistently compromised on issues such as affirmative action, graduate student unionization, burrowing owl habitat, and now he's welcomed the corporate pirates at Monsanto onto campus. We speak pie to power, and send this epicurean treat to His Honour the Chancellor with love from the BBB."
Novartis was created in 1996 in a merger between agrochemical giants Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, effecting the largest corporate merger ever. The company has touched off a firestorm of debate and action in Europe regarding its genetically-engineered (GE) corn, which has been altered to produce its own pesticide. Over the objections of farmers, scientists, concerned citizens, and the European Parliament, Novartis has proceeded to sow the GE corn, claiming it is perfectly safe. However, on October 12, 1998, Greenpeace published evidence that the Novartis corn cross-fertilized with adjoining fields of non-GE crops, as was widely feared. Farmers' unions and organic associations from several countries have condemned Novartis, and the Confederation Paysanne of France even went so far as to break into a warehouse and contaminate the seeds.