- Chip Weiner
- Protestors marching against Monsanto along Swann Avenue.
"No more GMOs! Monsanto has got to go!" shouted an estimated 250 protestors from the steps of City Hall and through the streets of St. Petersburg on Saturday. Across the bridge in Tampa, a crowd estimated between 250-300 people marched from Hyde Park to Curtis Hixon Park, carrying signs and shouting slogans denouncing the Monsanto Corporation. Locals joined in the March Against Monsanto, a global day of action with sister protests in 52 countries and 436 cities.
- Shannagillette.com
- In St. Petersburg, marchers took to downtown streets with chants and signs.
In Tampa, Greenpeace's Christine Wall said that people need and deserve the right to know what's in the food they eat, and denounced Monsanto's fight to put ingredients on the labels of the products they sell.
"The people need to know the dangers of GMO's," she said. "Genentically modified organisms pose a threat to our health, to our children’s health, and people need ot be made aware of that."
In St. Pete, the march took to downtown's people-packed Central Avenue and Beach Drive, ending at at Williams Park. Melissa Mitchell, 34, said she found out about the march right after the passage of "the Monsanto Protection Act." She attended the march with three friends from Tampa.
- Chip Weiner
- Kid's marching Saturday in Tampa.
"GMOs are banned in most countries, or at least labeled," Mitchell said. "All we want are labels so we can decide for ourselves."
Mitchell said she works in the medical field, dealing mostly with cancer patients. She sees a link between cancer and GMO-laden diets.
"Monsanto has embedded itself in our government," Mitchell said. "The number one pest company in the world should not be in charge of making our food."
- Shannagillette.com
- Protestors called for GMO labeling.
Angie Cruzado, of St. Petersburg, said she was raised eating a diet "very low in veggies and lots of meat."
"I used to have problems with depression," said Cruzado. "But since I started eating organic, and using natural products, I've felt a huge change in my health. Just from those simple changes."
This article appears in May 23-29, 2013.