German minister of agriculture bans advertisement against genetic engineering

Date: 2006

Region: Europe

Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion

Medium: Print Journalism


Artist: "Save our Seeds"

Confronting Bodies: Horst Seehofer - Minister of Agriculture - Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz (BMELV)

Date of Action: August 2006

Location: Berlin, Germany

Description of Artwork: On the left side of the page, the ad shows the upper half of a corn cob being covered by a red condom. On the right side of the page, the ad has the headline "Nie mehr ohne? - Never again without?" It continues with a short text claiming that every customer should have the right for a free choice to not buy products containing genetically engineered food items.

The Incident: The ad was to be printed in a magazine about organic food products. As the magazine was dependent on governmental funding, the Ministry of Agriculture, with Horst Seehofer at its head, announced that all its funding of the magazine would be withdrawn if the "Save our Seeds" ad was included.

Results of Incident: The magazine was printed without the ad by "Save our Seeds"

Source: http://www.saveourseeds.org/ http://www.keine-gentechnik.de/