Bomb attack damages Monsanto research center in Italy

sciencemag.org

Earlier this week, in the middle of Easter night in Olmeneta, Italy, an unknown person attacked the Monsanto Research Center with several “bottle bombs” or Molotov cocktails, small improvised explosive devices. The 16 April assault, apparently a protest against research on genetically modified organisms (GMO), did not injure anyone but firemen worked for hours to stop a blaze set off by one bomb that devastated the cold room where most of the small facility’s experimental seeds are usually stored.

The attacker launched four incendiary devices in total—two did not explode—and fled after spray painting a wall with “Bayer criminal marriage. No GMO.” Bayer, the German pharmaceutical giant, merged with Monsanto, an agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology multinational company based in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2016.

No one has claimed responsibility for the action yet. Investigators are screenings video recorded at the entrances of the town that nigh and the previous days.