Dockers welcome continuing crane blockade of Cargill's Gene Beans

Genetically engineered soybeans imported through Liverpool Docks by the grain multinational Cargill were the target of blockades by Greenpeace and Animal Rights activists on 29 November, following information from sacked Liverpool Dockers and the "Reclaim the Future" alliance.

Shop steward Bobby Morton declared "Had these beans turned up 15 months ago when we were still in work, this cargo would have gone the way of PCB's and radioactive waste - back home!"

The Polish registered "Orleta Lwowskie", en route from New Orleans with 56,000 tonnes of soya beans including the highly controversial genetically engineered "Round Up Ready" bean designed by Monsanto for use with their own herbicide, sailed into a storm at Gladstone dock at noon.

A banner reading "Floodgate to genetic pollution" was hung across the ship's path while activists chained themselves to the lock gates and ladders.

After negotiation with the Harbour Master and port police at Mersey Docks, Greenpeace agreed to lift their 4 hour blockade of the lock approach which had affected other ships, but only after 6 climbers were securely in place atop 2 cranes at Cargills. By the next morning, the continuing occupation had delayed off-loading the beans for 22 hours.

Apparently the harbour control and safety officers at Mersey Docks, while furious at the action, were not unsympathetic to the protest against unlabelled genetically engineered soybeans flooding the market without any proper investigation of their eventual human and animal health impacts.

Sacked dockers welcomed the direct action. Before their dismissal, dockers had engaged in a series of industrial blockades aiding environmental and solidarity campaigns.

• In 1987-88, British Nuclear Fuels exports of uranium hexafluoride to the US were hit as the uranium came from Namibia and South Africa. Japanese power companies then cancelled their Namibian uranium contracts.
• In August 1989 dockers refused to unload imports of toxic pcb's from Montreal. The Quebec government then cancelled their contract with Rechem, the high temperature incinerator operator owned by landfill specialists Shanks McEwan whose chairman, Gordon Waddell, also heads up Mersey Docks.
• In January 1991 after a tipoff from Greenpeace International, Rotterdam dockers refused to load highly enriched uranium spent fuel rods from a German research reactor which were due for shipment through Liverpool on Atlantic Container Line, en route to Dounreay.
• In August 1994 dockers joined widespread community protests over pcb contaminated imports and a fire at Sheppard's scrap metal firm on the dockside.

In the wake of the dockers' sacking, activists fear Liverpool will become the key port for toxic imports. Last year an estimated 13,500 tonnes of hazardous waste imports, mainly solvents from the Irish pharmaceutical industry, passed through Mersey Docks.

Simon Reddy of Greenpeace stated "This dockside represents the floodgates for genetic pollution. Cargill wanted to bring it in without telling anyone and then mix it in our food without giving people any choice. It's underhand, devious and wrong. The public does not benefit from this genetic engineering. We can't risk releasing it into the environment."