Despite the arrest of the Warrior’s captain the actions carried on

It took eight hours, a powerful tugboat and the specialist division of the water police to end the Rainbow Warrior's blockade of the The Rhein, a ship transporting Genetically Engineered (GE) soya in Port Kembla Harbour. Despite the arrest of the Warrior's captain, our campaign against GE soya didn't slow down.

At 11pm, Monday April 26th police boarded the Rainbow Warrior and arrested its captain, Derek Nicholls of New Zealand. He was charged with failing to comply with directions by the harbour master and with entering a pilotage port without taking on a pilot. He has been bailed to appear in Port Kembla local court in June.

However, less than five hours later Greenpeace activists were back on the job, branding the office tower of Inghams national headquarters in western Sydney with the message "GM feed Yuk!" next to the company logo.

The chicken industry is Australia's biggest user of GE soya and Inghams is the country's leading poultry supplier. Its poultry is marketed nationally under the Inghams, Woolworths, and Safeway home brand labels without any mention of the fact that the chickens are raised on GE feed.

Tina Meckel, our GE campaigner in Australia said that Greenpeace is sending a clear message to Inghams and the rest of the Australian poultry industry that the company could no longer sneak GE crops into our food chain.

"Survey after survey shows that the vast majority of Australians are saying a clear 'NO' to genetically engineered foods," said Meckel. "It's time that Inghams listened to their customers instead of involving us in a genetic experiment without our knowledge or consent."

Yesterday's action follows on from last week when our team in Australia painted the hull of the Rhein in Brisbane with the demand to 'Stop GE Imports'.

More information

- Tell Inghams to STOP using GE feed.

- Read about the Warriors earlier action.

- Visit the True Food network to learn more about GE in the food chain

- Visit the Rainbow Warrior when it arrives in Melbourne.

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