GMO | Memory Hole Blog

Found Dead on Morning She Planned to Visit EPA with 200,000 Signature-Petition

Editor’s Note: A source has informed MHB they contacted the management of Washington DC’s Cambria Hotel & Suites to inquire on the existence and availability of surveillance footage of the hotel grounds for Tuesday, April 10, the date of de Mier’s death. The personnel would not respond to inquiries on such footage and a message to management for a callback was unanswered.

Derrick Broze
Activist Post
(April 12, 2018)

A longtime opponent of genetically engineered mosquitoes was found dead in a Washington D.C. hotel as she prepared to present a petition with over 200,000 signatures to the EPA.

On Tuesday morning Mila de Mier—a 45-year-old activist from Key West, Florida who opposed the release of genetically engineered mosquitoes—was found dead in a swimming pool at a hotel in Washington D.C. De Meir was visiting D.C. to deliver a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency demanding the agency deny a permit for the release of genetically engineered mosquitoes in Florida and Texas.

WJLA reported:

The D.C. Fire Department says the reported incident happened at the Cambria Hotel & Suites Washington, D.C. Convention Center on 899 O Street, NW. They say they were called to the scene at around 9:35 a.m. Medical crews say they attempted to treat the victim but later pronounced her dead.

Fox5 in D.C. notes that the police report claims a witness found de Mier floating inside the rooftop pool and called 911. The Metropolitan Police Department in D.C. is investigating the exact circumstances of the drowning.

In the days preceding her death, Mila de Mier posted on her Facebook page about the fight against genetically engineered mosquitoes. “The time is now Please sign and share ! We are not guinea pigs,” she wrote. “Is time to set standards when it come to people and Biotecnology.”

Activist Post spoke with Barbara Napoles, a fellow activist and long-term friend of de Mier who accompanied her on the trip to Washington D.C., and one of the last people to see her alive. Napoles worked with de Mier for years as part of the Never Again Foundation, an organization that focused on a variety of environmental causes. Napoles explained that she and de Mier had worked on the GE mosquito issue for years and had previously made trips to the Food and Drug Administration in an attempt to express their concerns.

Continue reading Florida Anti-GMO/Biotech Activist “Not Known to Be a Weak Swimmer” →

On Trip to Protest Release of GMO Mosquitoes

By James F. Tracy

On Tuesday, April 10 Washington DC authorities recovered the body of Key West-based environmental activist Milagro de Mier from the pool of a hotel close to the DC Convention Center . de Mier was in the nation’s capital to raise awareness and petition the US Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency on a British biotech company’s plan to release 50 million genetically-modified mosquitoes in Florida and Texas on a weekly basis.

The environmental activist and real estate agent was 45, and the mother of three. “These GMO mosquitoes could pose major risks to fragile ecosystems like the Florida Keys and Texas,” de Mier argued on the page of her Change.org petition, “and may pose risks to public health and safety.

Fox News5 reports on April 10:

Authorities said they were called to the Cambria Hotel & Suites Washington, D.C. Convention Center in the 890 block of O Street, NW at about 9:40 a.m.

According to a police report, a witness found an unconscious woman floating inside the rooftop pool and called 911.

A photo of Cambria Hotel & Suites Washington, D.C. Convention Center located in the 890 block of O Street, NW captured on Tuesday, April 10, 2018.

When emergency crews responded to the scene they found the woman facedown and attempted to revive her but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities later identified the woman as 45-year-old Milagro Demier of Key West, Florida.

Detectives said a death investigation was underway to determine the circumstances surrounding the drowning. No other details were immediately available.