GENETIX ALERT NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Denny Henke 901.438.9907
Date: August 1, 2000

Dusty Desperadoes Raid Monsanto

Dusty, Washington - On Monday July 31 anti-biotech direct actionists
calling themselves the Dusty Desperadoes destroyed five acres of
genetically engineered canola at Monsanto facilities here.

A communique sent by the activists stated that "Monsanto may have its
capitalist spurs dug into our lives but with machetes and scythes, we
destroyed its attempt at corporate greenwashing by leveling five
acres of field tests including some Round-Up Ready canola. Recently
institutions have been denying that they grow GE crops when sabotaged
by fellow renegades, this time Monsanto cannot hide behind this PR
facade because they provide fliers at their site explicitly stating
that they grow GE canola in Dusty. "

The communique continued "This site in Dusty, WA is only one
miniscule part of Monsanto's biological imperialism. In Washington
alone it has 96 current permits for the release of GE organisms. It
has recently begun to expand its monopolies from chemicals to seeds
to water, and the crisis of pollution and depletion of water
resources is viewed by Monsanto as a business opportunity. According
to Robert Farley of Monsanto, 'What you are seeing is not just a
consolidation of seed companies, it is really a consolidation of the
entire food chain.' "

Since November 1998 there have been roughly 37 anti-genetic direct
actions in North America and the movement shows no signs of slowing.
In the past two weeks Earth Liberation Front activists struck
facilities in two different states. The same week direct actionists
called Concerned Maine Citizens cut trees at an experimental farm in
Milo, Maine. Last week hundreds of activists protested the
International Society for Animal Genetics facing heavily armed police
and state troopers in downtown Minneapolis. The movement maintains
that biotechnology is completely unnecessary and is being developed
at the expense of human and ecological health solely to increase the
profits of large multinational corporations.

The communique concludes: "We send solidarity to our fellow bandits
who recently had their houses raided and bodies beaten during
protests against the International Society of Animal Geneticists
(ISAG) in Minneapolis, MN. The government's blatant display of
repression shows how hot the heat from our branding iron is on the
ass of our opposition."

*Attached is copy of the communique.

Dusty Desperadoes Raid Monsanto
Tuesday August 1, 2000

MONSANTO: WANTED DEAD, NOT ALIVE

        Last night the Dusty Desperadoes took a branding iron to
Monsanto's (Dusty, WA) "Center for Natural Mutilation." This duel
under the high moon shows that Monsanto's tightening noose around the
neck of nature can and will be cut. Our posse left the Circle A Ranch
to "Round-Up" Monsanto and place them in a shallow grave with a
tombstone engraved, "Here lies the world's second largest
manufacturer of agricultural chemicals with a sordid history of PCBs,
dioxin, Agent Orange, rBGH, The Times Beach cover-up, genetically
engineered (GE) Nutrasweet (aka: aspartame - a neurotoxin),
bio-serfdom through biotechnology, which has only turned up Fool's
Gold in its stampede toward the commodification of life."
        Monsanto may have its capitalist spurs dug into our lives but
with machetes and scythes, we destroyed its attempt at corporate
greenwashing by leveling five acres of field tests including some
Round-Up Ready canola. Recently institutions have been denying that
they grow GE crops when sabotaged by fellow renegades, this time
Monsanto cannot hide behind this PR facade because they provide
fliers at their site explicitly stating that they grow GE canola in
Dusty. Monsanto's "Centers for Excellence" may field test
Conservation Tillage systems, but they still use GE crops and
poisonous herbicides & pesticides. GE crops are not acceptable
anytime, anywhere. Nothing good can come from the giant corporation
that once claimed in a 1979 advertisement, "Without chemicals, life
itself would be impossible." The Dusty Desperadoes counter that
"Without Monsanto, life could be possible."
        This site in Dusty, WA is only one miniscule part of
Monsanto's biological imperialism. In Washington alone it has 96
current permits for the release of GE organisms. It has recently
begun to expand its monopolies from chemicals to seeds to water, and
the crisis of pollution and depletion of water resources is viewed by
Monsanto as a business opportunity. According to Robert Farley of
Monsanto, "What you are seeing is not just a consolidation of seed
companies, it is really a consolidation of the entire food chain."
        In most areas in Eastern Washington more than 50% of the
natural shrub-steppe habitats of sagebrush and bunch grasses have
been lost to agriculture.  In a few counties, the loss is close to
100%, some of the state's rarest species, such as the Pygmy Rabbit
and Sage Grouse, are restricted to ever-diminishing sage bush
communities. Monsanto helps this process of ecological destruction
along, so let's get out of the saloon and start sharpening our
critique of industry and industrial agriculture. Let's not let
Monsanto gamble away the natural world.
        We send solidarity to our fellow bandits who recently had
their houses raided and bodies beaten during protests against the
International Society of Animal Geneticists (ISAG) in Minneapolis,
MN. The government's blatant display of repression shows how hot the
heat from our branding iron is on the ass of our opposition.
                     Monsanto your heyday is over!
                     Monsanto: Fraud. Stealth. Hype
                     (not! Food. Health. Hope)
For information on the Dusty "Center for Natural Mutilation":
www.pnwsteep.wsu.edu/directseed/conf99/COEPAPER.htm