Green Activists Target Elite Berlin Store

Activists from environmental group Greenpeace are demonstrating in front of Berlin’s elite department store KaDeWe after it emerged that every fifth fruit and vegetable in the store exceeded legally-allowed pesticide levels, following tests. Grapes, lettuce, strawberries and zucchini were found to contain up to eight different types of pesticide. The demonstrators are demanding that food producers and supermarket chains should follow legal regulations and in the long run strive to offer food free of pesticides and genetic technology. "KaDeWe is just the tip of the iceberg. The entire food industry has a massive quality problem," Corinna Hölzel of the Greenpeace consumer arm said. "The infected fruits and vegetables show that agriculture is headed in a totally wrong direction." Manfred Krautter, chemical expert at Greenpeace was more damning. "Those who want to buy food without pesticide and gene technology, can only be sure of that with bio-products," he said.