A huge ‘Stop GMO’ banner, featuring a corn knob stylized to look like a character from a horror movie, appeared at the facade of the farm ministry building in Warsaw, Wednesday.

It was hung up by Greenpeace activists from Poland, Germany, Hungary and Switzerland, who climbed to the rooftop, craftily avoiding security guards. The horror movie character of the corn knob epitomizes the health and environmental risks posed by GMOs. Greenpeace is urging the Ministry of Agriculture to ban the planting of a particular strain of genetically manipulated corn seeds, known as MON 810, developed by the U.S. biotech giant Monsanto.

“Two days ago we informed the Polish police and the government about a field at Raciborz where genetically modified corn was planted out of control,” says Lukasz Supergan, coordinator of the STOP GMO campaign in this country.

“There are many such plantations in Poland, which no one controls. We must put an end to such situations. That is why we want the Polish government to ban the MON 810 corn,” Supergan declares.

The MON 810 corn, the only GM crop approved by the EU for commercial use, has already been banned by such countries as France, Greece, Austria, Hungary and Germany. (kk)