Greenpeace protesters used magnets to attach themselves to a cargo ship in Australia yesterday and painted the words ?Stop GE imports? on the hull as part of a campaign against genetically engineered food.

Greenpeace activists dressed as chickens and holding banners protesting against genetically modified food also demonstrated outside a conference of the poultry industry on Queensland?s Gold Coast.

?Up to 300,000 tons of GE soy are imported into Australia each year, most of that goes into chicken feed and most of that ends up on our dinner plates,? Greenpeace campaigner Jeremy Tager said in a statement. ?Our action today sends a clear message to the poultry industry that they can?t get away with sneaking GE into the Australian chain.?

Three Greenpeace activists climbed onto the side of the cargo ship, the Rhein, in Brisbane port and used rollers to paint on a protest against genetically modified foods in large white letters. Greenpeace said the ship was carrying 13,000 tonnes of genetically modified soy meal from the United States.