The captain of the ship, Jose Maria Gil-Robles, President of the European Parliament, was asked to throw these people overboard in Strasbourg last week - but he refused. They are Leinster Green MEP Nuala Ahern (left) and German colleague Frieder Otto Wolf (far left). They have dressed up as pirates to protest at what they see as pirating of third world genes. The Greens are mounting a legal challenge to the controversial biotechnological intervention directive and argue that the patenting of genetic material is a sell-out to multinational industry.
It was a week of unusual alliances as MEPs approved directives banning tobacco advertising, which led even Commissioner Pee Flynn and Green MEP Patricia McKenna to make up for a while. Lobbyists roamed the corridors, intimidating members according to some, and pirates cavorted in the aisles. In one quiet moment during the genes debate, Fianna Fail's Mark Killilea told the House that he would have been dead a long time ago but for "the liver of a pig" and biotechnology which produced insulin for his diabetes. FG's Mary Banotti said she was also biotechnology-dependent because of diabetes, but her insulin came through the wonders of genetic engineering. Both voted Yes.