More than 300 people and 17 voluntary groups took to the streets of Valletta yesterday, joining millions of people in a global protest against the multinational agricultural technology company Monsanto.

Starting from City Gate, foreigners joined locals to walk with placards and posters protesting against the use of genetically modified organisms. Similar protests were held in 47 countries.

John Portelli, from the Malta Organic and Agricultural Movement, said he was pleased with the turnout.

“Foreigners are more aware about consumer rights where food consumption is concerned while unfortunately many Maltese are happy just to eat pastizzi, burgers or takeaway food,” he said.

Monsanto is the world’s largest producer of genetically modified crops and seeds. Protest organisers are concerned about potential health risks associated with GMOs and environmental degradation linked to the cultivation of genetically modified crops.

They are also alarmed about the impact that multinational agri-tech businesses have on independent farmers and small co-operatives. They feel the EU is under political and economic pressure from the American Government to liberalise the GMO market to accommodate US companies that are the main producers of such seeds.

Mr Portelli underlined the “very bad food culture” in Malta and called for a national agricultural policy that covered the way vegetables were grown and processed into the food chain, among other things. The protest walk joined forces with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Malta, which incidentally also had scheduled an awareness walk down Republic Street.

The society had been granted a police permit for the walk, which left the organisers of the walk against Monsanto without one. Mr Portelli said they asked the society whether they could walk together.

“We both supported each other’s cause,” said the society’s Carmen Muscat.

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