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Source: Reuters
ROME, The Reuters World Service:
Three women stripped naked in front of U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman on Wednesday in a protest over genetically modified U.S. soybeans.
As clothed demonstrators threw seeds and held up a banner reading ``Ban the Gene Bean'' the three women stripped off to reveal slogans saying ``The Naked Truth'' painted on their bodies.
The protest, the latest in Europe over the past week to try to keep the beans from going on sale, disrupted the start of a news conference called by Glickman at the U.N. Food and Agriculture (FAO) World Food Summit in Rome.
``We are all happy we live in a free society...thank goodness for liberty and freedom of speech,'' Glickman said.
He drew laughs himself when he removed his jacket and remarked that he had no plans to strip off as well.
Italian police, caught off guard by the protest at a summit surrounded by massive security, had to be called to remove the demonstrators, who kicked over plants in a minor scuffle.
``We're not part of any organisation. We're protesting against the genetic engineering of soybeans,'' said one of the women, a young Italian who identified herself as Olivia.
A young male demonstrator, whose media credential badge identified him as Briton Joseph Ryan, said: ``The U.S. is happy to promote the growth of genetic products which can only help transnational corporations to dominate the market.''
Protesters trying to keep the modified beans out of Europe this week chained themselves to gates in Germany, occupied the office of the Austrian health minister and climbed to the roof of the headquarters of Swiss food group Nestle SA.
Environmentalists led by the Greenpeace group say they worry that U.S. chemicals group Monsanto Co's Round Up Ready soyabean, modified to resist the company's Round Up herbicide, could be a threat to health.
Full story at http://users.westnet.gr/~cgian/naked.htm
REUTER@ [11-13-96 at 13:07 EST, Copyright 1996, Reuters America Inc.]