Noble City bioengineering protests, 2012



The Noble City bioengineering protests of 2012 were a reaction to an announcement on the 9th of May by Christopher Costello, the CEO of Costello Enterprises, that the corporation intended to 'engage in humane genetic engineering projects.' Costello made the announcement to obtain reassurance that such an undertaking would be well-received in the Lovian public. Responses were fairly negative at first, with Ilava stating 'CCPL can't ever support this.' Other conservatives such as Breyev and Hoffman, as well as Labour politician Abrahams expressed some scepticism, and requested more detail.

Around a week later, Costello had succeeded in allaying most of their concerns, and the informal consultation came to an end. Ilava, however, remained unconvinced, and stated rhetorically 'CCPL has a new campaigning point now and we will surely make sure that we're heard.' On the 18th of May, a large group of protestors marched west along Freedom Avenue in Noble City towards the corporation's headquarters, in an action supported by the Lovian conservative faction.

Protesters


Most of the protesters were conservative Christians motivated by their religious beliefs, but some were merely critics of Costello Enterprises' business methods. There were also a sizeable proportion from the farming community, some of whom felt that GM research posed a risk to their livelihood. Paul Gow, leader of the Association of Clymeni Farmers, said: 'At present GM research does not pose a huge risk to Lovian farmers, but we anticipate this could be a step onto a slippery slope. Eventually, we could end with a situation where Lovian farmers who are contaminated by patented GM seeds and crops get sued for patent infringement by giant transnational corporations. Action is needed now.'