Noteworthy, according to this article part of the reason eco terrorism reigns
on GM crops is the terrorists believe the crops can cause harm to humans.




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Underground groups go after research, property that involve genetic 
engineering


By Miguel Llanos
MSNBC

June 14 — The FBI calls them "special interest terrorists" and you've heard 
of a few — animal rights and anti-abortion extremists, in particular. But 
there's a relatively new subgroup that's doing more and more damage: 
saboteurs opposed to genetic engineering of plants, produce and animals. A 
review by MSNBC.com found that 2000 is on track to be a record year for 
violence by these biotech extremists.

ALREADY THIS YEAR, activists have struck 11 times, compared with 18 reported 
attacks in 1999 and only a handful in prior years.
"There does seem to be a trend towards more actions," says Denny Henke, a 
spokesperson for GenetiX Alert Press Office, a group that sympathizes with 
the extremists and monitors their activities. "I'm guessing that there will 
be at least twice as many actions this year."

The activists say they're willing to destroy property because they feel 
genetically modified organisms can potentially harm humans. A spokesman for 
one major group, the Earth Liberation Front, acknowledges it espouses 
"economic sabotage" but insists that does not include violence against 
people.

Like many other groups, criminal and legitimate, these activists have also 
found a useful tool for organizing on the Internet. Encrypted messages have 
become more common, and public documents include Web-based primers on how to 
pick targets, how to do "nighttime gardening" against biotech crops and even 
a daily calendar of protests.

With names like the Cropatistas, the Anarchist Golfing Association and the 
Petaluma Pruners, the activists don't sound like much of a threat, but their 
damage runs into the millions of dollars, and many of their victims — 
research groups and businesses —have had to pay even more money to provide 
24-hour security for their properties.

In California, the state hardest hit by the attacks, lawmakers are moving to 
pass a law doubling the civil penalties for destroying genetically 
engineered crops.


ANARCHIST GOLFERS
The attacks first gained momentum in Europe, and the trend has now reached 
the United States. The science, at least so far, doesn't offer strong 
support for the extremists concerns about genetic engineering, though many 
scientists are calling for, and some are carrying out, field tests to see if 
any dangers do exist.

The latest domestic strike was the work of the Anarchist Golfing 
Association. On June 4, activists used the cover of darkness to destroy 
experimental plots of grass in Canby, Ore., causing $300,000 to $500,000 in 
damage to the owner, Pure-Seed Testing.

In a news release sent to GenetiX, the group said it had targeted the 
company because it's testing a putting-green grass, known as creeping 
bentgrass, that is genetically modified to be resistant to the herbicide 
Glufosinate.

The company later said it had responded to an e-mail from the activists. It 
said it is not involved in genetically engineering grasses but is simply 
doing research “to properly assess the dangers and precautionary measures 
that must take place” before producing any such grasses.

FBI'S VIEW
Groups like the anarchist golfers have proved hard to track down. No 
significant arrests have been made, and an FBI spokesman says going after 
the extremists is difficult because "there's no real pattern."

That's not to say the FBI isn't taking their actions seriously. In testimony 
before Congress last year, Director Louis Freeh placed them in the category 
of "special interest extremist."

"The current domestic terrorist threat primarily comes from right-wing 
extremist groups, Puerto Rican extremist groups, and special interest 
extremists," he said.

"The most recognizable single-issue terrorists at the present time are those 
involved in the violent animal rights, anti-abortion, and environmental 
protection movements," he said.

GRAND JURY INQUIRY
Freeh specifically cited two groups, the Animal Liberation Front and the 
Earth Liberation Front, as posing "significant challenges for law 
enforcement."

The groups are tied to an Oct. 19, 1998, arson at the Vail Ski Resort that 
caused $12 million in property damage. The groups claimed that the resort's 
proposed expansion would destroy the last remaining habitat in Colorado for 
the endangered lynx.

A federal grand jury in Portland, Ore., has been looking into the two 
groups, which have claimed responsibility for other arson and property 
attacks as well.

Craig Rosebraugh, an activist who says he is a spokesman for the ELF, has 
been a focus of that investigation, which he says has been "expanded 
tremendously" in recent months to include biotech sabotage.

Threat From Within: Right-wing domestic terror

LEGAL COUNTERSTRIKES
The Biotechnology Industry Organization believes authorities should be able 
to crack down on extremists using existing property laws. "They should be 
sufficient," says spokeswoman Lisa Dry, "and should be rigorously and 
stringently enforced."

But lawmakers in California, where 14 strikes have occurred since July 1999, 
feel tougher sanctions are needed. In a 67-6 vote last month, the state 
Assembly passed a bill to double the liability — now limited to the actual 
value of the damage — for destroying research crops at public institutions.

"We introduced the bill in response to eight or nine acts of vandalism 
targeting University of California research crops," says Chris Tapio, a 
spokesman for state Rep. Helen Thomson.

The bill is now in the state Senate, Tapio said, "and we don't anticipate a 
whole lot of trouble" given how easily it passed the Assembly.

MORE AGGRESSIVE ACTIONS
The most violent biotech sabotage so far was carried out by the Earth 
Liberation Front, which chose an arson attack as a way of announcing it had 
added genetic engineering to its other causes. Since 1996, the group is 
suspected of having carried out eight arson strikes, including Vail ski 
resort attack.

The group said it was responsible for a biotech arson on New Year's Eve that 
caused $400,000 damage to the agriculture department building at Michigan 
State University. In February, the group claimed responsibility for an 
attack at the University of Minnesota, where oat plants were destroyed and 
building locks glued shut.

The front has no public leader. Rosebraugh says he knows no one in the 
group, and instead gets anonymous communiqués sent to him.

What the group and many others like it have in common is an anarchist 
foundation that uses the Internet to recruit and network. An online Internet 
Anarchist University" and an Anarchist Yellow Pages are among the sites 
linked to from other sites sympathetic to the biotech saboteurs.

Rosebraugh says networking used to be the domain of the rich and mighty, but 
now the Internet has opened those channels of communication, enabling 
"people around the world to be in close contact with one another."

WHAT NEXT?
The biggest fear of authorities is that biotech extremists might someday 
target humans, not just crops and research. That is partly fueled by 
incidents last year in which animal rights activists sent letters 
boobytrapped with razor blades to researchers experimenting with primates.

Rosebraugh says the Earth Liberation Front's strategies have not included 
harming humans. "It is a non-violent organization that does use economic 
sabotage," he says.

He expects a "dramatic increase" in biotech sabotage this year, and says the 
Earth Liberation Front's decision to join the attacks is partly responsible 
for the new momentum.

Rosebraugh believes the group, and others like it, are drawing supporters 
away from mainstream environmental groups.

"Judging from the lack of success in popular environmental movements in this 
country, they are being very successful," he says. "And they pose a greater 
risk to entities profiting off the destruction of the environment" than 
mainstream environmental groups.

The group, along with the Animal Liberation Front, already has a new target 
in mind: the International Society for Animal Genetics, which holds its 
annual conference in July 21-26 at the University of Minnesota.

Rosebraugh says he expects "quite extensive" protests.


The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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