Protesters To Confront Gene Giants in San Diego in June

Note: for more information please visit http://www.biodev.org
Protesters prepare to upstage biotech industry gathering
By Seth Hettena
ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 17, 2001

DULZURA - Past the cardboard sign that reads "Ruckus," at the end of a dirt
road high in the Jamul mountains, protesters are training this week to take
to the streets of San Diego during an upcoming biotech industry convention.

The industry insists it is pioneering new technologies that benefit humanity
by fighting disease and other health risks, increasing crop yields and
eliminating pests.

Opponents, however, are convinced that biotech companies are introducing
potentially harmful, genetically engineered products into homes and farms,
placing profits above people.

In the past, the Ruckus Society has trained activists who have disrupted
global trade meetings and political conventions. Now it's preparing for the
annual convention of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, or BIO,
to be held June 24-27 in San Diego.

San Diego police are anticipating that thousands of protesters will hit the
streets next month.

"We're planning for the worst-case scenario: That is, thousands of
demonstrators, some of whom plan on being violent or destructive,"
Assistant Chief of Police John Welter said. "We will not tolerate violations
of the law, and we will arrest and prosecute. But if they come here to
demonstrate lawfully and peacefully, we want to work with them."

Han Shan, a spokesman for the Berkeley-based Ruckus Society, said he
did not know how many people would protest in San Diego. But he hoped
the turnout would surpass the turnout at the 2000 BIO convention in Boston,
where police counted 2,500 demonstrators.

The Ruckus Society believes violence is not the way to build support for its
cause and distanced itself from the anarchists linked to chaos at the 1999
World Trade Organization protests in Seattle and other cities, according to
Shan.

"You want to talk about those folks, you should find some because you're in
the wrong place," he said. "I'm not out there making enemies. I'm out there
to change the debate."

More than 12,000 industry leaders and executives are expected to attend what
BIO expects will be its biggest convention ever. The conventions have drawn
large but peaceful demonstrations in other cities over the past three years.

About 90 percent of the researchers and executives who plan to attend
the San Diego convention are working on cures for cancer, heart disease,
Alzheimer's disease and other conditions, according to BIO officials.

But people training at the Ruckus Society's BioJustice Action Camp east
of San Diego believe profit-centered biotech firms are also unleashing
genetically modified "frankenfoods" and other potentially devastating
technologies on the unwitting public.

"We think there is another agenda," said 31-year-old Simon Harris of
Berkeley, who attended the camp. "And that is control."

At past BIO conventions, activists have called for an end to the sale of
genetically engineered products and tougher regulation of the industry. They
have also singled out the practices of individual companies.

Harris said his goal at the upcoming protests will be to "bring some
sunshine on the biotech industry and make them more accountable for what
they've been doing."

The 150 people attending the camp on the grounds of the Madre Grande
Monastery explored the basics of nonviolent protest: forming blockades,
climbing buildings to hang banners, political theater and tips on how best
to deal with tear gas fumes. Actor Woody Harrelson, a veteran of California
protests, was expected to drop by the camp by Saturday.

San Diego police aren't disclosing details of their plan involving the
convention, but Welter said enforcement costs could reach $1 million.

"We have to make sure we don't overreact or underreact," he said.
"If you overreact, you look like you're limiting freedom of speech.
If you underreact, people say 'where were the cops?'"

BIO officials said they were prepared for the protests, which have had
little impact on past meetings, according to Carl Feldbaum, the
organization's president.

"We have to deal with these folks as they come," he said. "The introduction
of a technology into a raucous democracy is going to create controversies,
and that's something we have to expect."

Feldbaum, a cancer survivor who says he has directly benefited from biotech
drugs, believes few protesters know much about the industry.

"I wish some of the demonstrators would talk to their parents about what
kind of diseases and conditions the biotech industry has already addressed,"
he said.