4 March 2002

GENETIX ACTION  - number 21

Last chance rally opposing GM trials in Long Marston 9th March Startford Upon Avon Town Hall 12pm start, coaches to the field trial at 2pm. Transport from around the country 020-72721586
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--  INFORMATION FOR ACTION      Spring 2002
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--  G E N E T I X   A C T I O N            number 21
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--  Newsletter of the Genetic Engineering Network

---- BAYER BLOCKADE

On 23rd January the German multinational chemicals company Bayer launched a share issue on the New York Stock Exchange. On the same day, around forty people blockaded their UK headquarters to highlight Bayer's acquisition of Aventis's GM research interests. The acquisition makes Bayer the biggest GM company in Europe, and the majority of crop trials in the UK this year will be run by them. Arriving at Bayer House in Newbury shortly after dawn, protesters used scaffold tripods and a human chain with metal arm tubes to block access to Bayer's car parks. A few of the protesters managed to enter the building but did not remain inside for long. Others managed to block both the main front and rear doorways into the offices by sitting in pairs within the revolving doors bicycle D-locked together by their necks. Bayer's staff found themselves unable to reach their offices. The activists left peacefully of their own accord, after completing the planned three hour blockade. There were no arrests. In addition to its interests in genetic research, Bayer is responsible for a number of other dubious activities in its pharmaceutical and chemical activities.

For more info check out   www.bayerhazard.com   www.cbgnetwork.org
and the Bayer briefing from Corporate Watch.
See also issue 20 of the Genetix Update.

---- YOU'RE RIGHT.

"Forget all those bland reassurances about the safety of GM foods and crops. Ignore all those patronising experts and Government ministers who have long insisted that the public has been irrational to suspect them. Two reports from the heart of the scientific establishment now reveal that the British people were right to have been worried," trumpeted the Daily Mail on 5th Feb.  For those who missed it, this was the double whammy:

The Royal Society, the UKs' leading body of scientists, called for tighter safety checks in its' surprisingly critical report. It said that regulations governing foods made from GM plants were "rather piecemeal" and might contain "some important gaps and inconsistencies." Those it cited as being at risk from the poorer nutritional standards of the new crops included everyone from bottle-fed babies to the poor of central America (who eat maize as half their diet).  It disputed that GM crops are 'substantially equivalent' to their non-GM counterparts saying "Substantial equivalence is a very blunt instrument. It is a flawed concept if used on its own."  A new testing regime must be independently scrutinised, recommends the report, otherwise "Companies could carry on generating data until they get the answer they want."

English Nature's study of Canadian oilseed rape showed 'gene-stacking' (the accidental creation of new GM plants through cross-pollination) was becoming a serious problem. The 'volunteers' were resistant to widely used herbicides and were found on every site examined, forcing farmers to use even more environmentally damaging herbicides. Dr Brian Johnson, English Nature's biotechnology adviser, said this could mean GM science becoming 'self-defeating' and failing to deliver one of its main promises - the use of fewer and less dangerous chemicals. "The Scimac code is probably inadequate to prevent gene stacking happening in Britain, if these crops were commercialised." Dr Johnson added.  The Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett also admitted that the current 160ft separation distances may not protect neighbouring crops from significant levels of pollution, but refused to change them, despite studies showing that pollen can travel for at least 3 miles.  The European Commission recently proposed that a threshold of up to 0.7% GM seed should be allowed in batches of conventional crop seed. English Nature is concerned that if this proposal were adopted, gene stacking might occur.

---- BOCM BLOCKADED

In December a group of 22 campaigners staged a protest at the Exeter base of BOCM Pauls Ltd, the country's largest feed producer. Two scaled a silo while another eight, including a pregnant woman, chained themselves to a weighbridge using bike D-locks and arm tubes. By obstructing the weighbridge the group had calculated that they would cause maximum disruption, and as the day progressed a queue of lorries built up, needing to use the weighbridge before leaving the plant. It was the second time the group had targeted BOCM's premises. In newspaper reports a BOCM spokesperson confirmed that the company does produce feed that incorporates GM ingredients which he said "they were entitled to do under current laws".

The previous day 10 people with a purple cow banner blockaded the BOCM Pauls plant in Radstock, Somerset, for two hours. The gates were D-locked together and lorries backed up along the road. A few protesters wandered around inside, chatting to workers while sitting on the conveyer belt, and on their departure the local policeman thanked them and said they could return any time(!). For top tips on safe(ish) and effective blockades, get hold of the new little book 'Blockading for Beginners' on 01803 866406.

---- STOP LABELLING

There has been an EU moratorium on the commercialisation of new GM crops in place since '98. The countries that forced this stop on the growing of new varieties in Europe initially said they wanted the Deliberate Release Directive to be revised so there was a better risk assessment process. There was also discussion about the inclusion of a full traceability scheme, but this did not make it in. So in July 2001 the EU Commission produced two new sets of regulations. The most contentious part of them was the extension of labelling to cover GM animal feed and foods derived from GMOs (e.g. oils, lecithin, etc.). The UK Food Standards Agency, the Industry, and the US Government have said such a labelling scheme would be open to fraud and excessively expensive because products could not be tested, and assurance would therefore be dependent on paper trials. They instead proposed a GM-free label - applicable only to foods that have never been associated with a GM process.
But a GM-free label will:
- be as open to fraud as labelling all GM derivatives,
- be expensive and exclude those on a low income,
- deny choice to the consumer, ( a Eurobarometer opinion poll showed over 70% of people don't want to eat GM foods. Another shows 56% of Britons want GM food labelled even where all traces of DNA are destroyed, e.g. oils),
- and many European supermarkets and food manufacturers already claim not to use GM derivatives and so already have such traceability systems in place.
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The industry and its cronies are lobbying hard for this one in Europe, so please let Tony Blair and John Krebs (head of Food Standards Agency) know that this pro-biotech company stance is not what the UK public wants. For further details on this legislation see MEP briefing by GeneWatch - www.genewatch.org FoE Europe Biotech mailout http://www.foeeurope.org/biotechnology/about.htm
 

---- SUPERMARKET SWEEP

Shoppers have been targeting supermarkets in Plymouth, Totnes and Kingsbridge to deter customers from GM-fed animal products. A 10ft cow handed out leaflets, reindeer filled up their trolleys with bad stuff and whole aisles got warning labels. A recent poll said that 80%
of shoppers would like to avoid GM fed produce. For a pack of downloadable stickers & leaflets check out www.animalfeed.org.uk .

---- POLITICS

The Advisory Committe on Releases into the Enviroment had a 'hearing' on T25 maize to 'explore the scientific basis for the challenges to the risk assessment submitted for marketing approval of T25 GM maize' on 20th Feb. Only 'experts' were allowed to speak, the public could attend but were told to keep quiet. The Organic Targets Bill rally on 23rd Jan was attended by several hundred people who wanted to be heard anyway, and the government's own Curry Commision (set up at the height of the footand-mouth epidemic to review British farming), strongly backed chemical-free agriculture.
* there will be a public debate on whether GM crops should be grown commercially,
* there is a case for separation distances to be massively increased to protect neighbouring farmers (not that she's changed them...).
All of which amounts to quite a significant Uturn that could delay commercialisation  for at least another year. Added to that, on 17th Feb the Times covered the leaked  results from the first two years of testing. The preliminary data seems to indicate that GM maize has slightly improved numbers of low growing plants compared to conventional maize (a case of competition between two highly toxic options, rather than organic). Meanwhile GM oilseed rape and beet are creating unprecedented agricultural deserts.

---- LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION

Here are the locations of the deliberate release sites of GM that have been announced since the winter. Possible sites for maize, which is sown later in the year, will be announced soon, so keep your eyes peeled to
www.geneticsaction.org.uk/testsites and www.Genewatch,org. It’s the final year of the government's 3-year, £4 million research programme to assess the 'environmental impact of GM crops'. But in a response to the government’s Crops on Trial report (see issue 20 & www.aebc.gov.uk) Environment Minister, Margaret Beckett said that: * the results of the GM evaluations are insufficient to allow for the commercial growing of GM crops,

Fodder or Sugar Beet
NX 964 137 St Bees Cumbria
SE 639 843 Beadlam North Yorkshire
SO 710 177 Blaisdon Gloucestershire
SO 852 224 Down Hatherley Gloucestershire
SO 855 767 Stone Worcestershire
ST 675 823 Westerleigh S. Gloucestershire
TF 097 445 Kirkby la Thorpe Lincolnshire
TF 218 889 Ludford Lincolnshire
TF 270 780 Scamblesby & Cawkwell Lincolnshire
TF 845 398 Burnham Thorpe Norfolk
TF 848 254 Helhoughton Norfolk
TF 893 362 Raynham Norfolk
TF 930 050 Saham Toney Norfolk
TF 940 087 Bradenham Norfolk
TF 947 093 Bradenham Norfolk
TL 314 904 Ramsey Cambridgeshire
TL 815 665 Risby Suffolk
NJ 746 301 Daviot Aberdeenshire
NJ 772 280 Daviot Aberdeenshire
NO 432 250 Newport on Tay Fife
Oilseed Rape
NZ 101 139 Wycliffe with Thorpe Durham
NZ 205 365 Oakenshaw Durham
NZ 372 510 Near Burdon village City of Sunderland
SE 773 240 Laxton East Riding of Yorkshire
SE 820 490 Nunburnholme E. Riding of Yorkshire
SJ 399 262 Hordley Shropshire
SJ 505 313 Wem Rural Shropshire
SJ 683 255 Hinstock Shropshire
SK 600 712 Warsop Nottinghamshire
SK 753 130 Burton and Dalby Leicestershire
SP 068 369 Buckland Gloucestershire
SP 155 401 Chipping Campden Gloucestershire
SP 237 484 Alderminster Warwickshire
SY 663 861 Bincombe Dorset
SY 708 861 Broadmayne Dorset
SY 773 928 Tincleton Dorset
TA 013 009 North Kelsey Lincolnshire
TA 065 596 Nafferton E. Riding of Yorkshire
TA 221 373 Aldbrough E. Riding of Yorkshire
TF 216 976 Thorganby Lincolnshire
TF 221 888 Ludford Lincolnshire
TF 944 250 Colkirk Norfolk
TL 053 100 Great Gaddesden Hertfordshire
TM 102 875 Winfarthing Norfolk

---- The mad Scots just keep getting better...

The vigil at Ross-Shire continues. It has planning permission and the 24-hour cover camp has been ongoing since 22nd August. It was established following the arrest of the Munlochy Eleven for stopping planting of the GM trial site which has now been sown.  Their cases will be heard on the 22nd of March and 4th May respectively.

But, not content with just the courts and the winter, they held a conference on 16th Feb 'Biotechnology, Environment and Health', which was attended by several top scientists in the (eherm) field, and 350 people.  They also handed in a 3700-strong petition to the Scottish Parliament demanding an immediate end to farmscale trials in Scotland, followed by a full parliamentary debate on the matter with an open vote at the end.  The petition has cross-party support - there are signatories on it from each of the 6 parties in the parliament, and its hearing has been set for 12th March. For more information on events up North look at
www.scottishgenenetixaction.org.uk, and to donate to the fighting fund send cheques to GM Protesters Caravan, The Layby, By Roskill Farm, Munlochy, Ross-shire IV8 8PA.

---- Jose Bove Sentenced to Jail

The 'militant French farmer' Jose Bove was sentenced to six months in jail in January. The verdict was delayed for about two hours when more than 100 farmers from the Farmers' Confederation disrupted the proceedings and refused to leave the courtroom. Riot police moved in, pushing the protesters into the courthouse lobby and finally expelling them from the building with tear gas. The appeals court convicted Bove for his role in destroying a GM rice field in southern France in 1999.

After the sentencing, a defiant Bove vowed to continue the fight against genetically modified crops. He said he would lodge his second appeal in the case, this time to France's highest court, the Court of Casation ­ a move that could keep him out of jail for up to a year.
source: www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/mcds/associatedpress211201.html

---- BioTech Boyz Sued

In January, two Canadian organic farmers filed a class action against Monsanto and Aventis on behalf of all certified organic farmers in Saskatchewan. The suit seeks compensation for damages caused by GM rape, and an injunction to prevent Monsanto from introducing GM wheat into the region.

GM oilseed rape has spread across the Prairies and contaminated conventional crops so extensively that most certified organic grain farmers no longer attempt to grow oilseed rape. The farmers claim that the companies should have known that the GMOs would spread and contaminate the environment, and that they had no regard for the damage these crops would cause to organic agriculture. "...the same thing will happen to wheat if GE wheat is introduced", stated Arnold Taylor. "Since wheat is the cornerstone of prairie agriculture, and essential for organic crop rotations, losing wheat to genetic contamination would devastate organic farming. We have no choice left but to pursue legal action. We are trying to build a grand alliance and this alliance is anticipated to become world-wide... We are asking organic farmers, conventional farmers, processors, traders and consumers to support this action with all they have got - our very future is at stake."
Money to support the legal action is being raised by SOD Organic Agriculture Protection Fund.
Further information can be obtained online at www.saskorganic.com or speak to Arnold Taylor
+1 306 252 2783 or Marc Loiselle +1 306 258 2192
loiselle@sk.sympatico.ca

---- And Sued again?

Mayor Delfinito Albano has ordered Monsanto to explain why it defied a local council moratorium on field trials of Bt-corn, and asked the firm to stop the tests and uproot the plants. He said if they ignored the requests he would file a case against them for defying the moratorium. Source: The Philippine Inquirer, January 19, 2002

---- Biosafety Protocol
  some years later and still not legal...

Well, it's exactly four years since the Arpad Pusztai story broke here, and an international meeting gathered in Cartagena, Colombia, to try to negotiate a rather dry, abstract international protocol to regulate the movement of GM pollution across national borders ...and failed.

...it's 3 years since everybody shivered in Montreal where, at the next meeting, governments finally agreed a not-perfect-but-not-bad protocol. One journalist remarked that the rights and concerns of the majority of farmers and rural communities were defended 'by a thin line of women and Africans'. What this small group of people achieved within the Biosafety (or Cartagena) Protocol were the fruits of a hard won battle.

...it's nearly 2 years since the Advanta GE contaminated seed story broke all over Europe, while at the same time another unpretentious biannual meeting of the Convention of BioDiversity (CBD) met in Kenya. During their time there, over 60 governments signed the Biosafety Protocol ­ a minimum of 50 is required to take the process on to the next stage, which is ratifying.

...and as of now, only a handful (12 at the last count) have ratified it; again, 50 are needed for it to become legally binding. For a majority of countries, with little economic muscle, signing the protocol was not a mere formal rubberstamp; they want to introduce robust, stringent and functioning laws and systems controlling the import of GE seed, as foodstuff or seed. The fund appointed to administer and help national capacity building programmes is both too ambitious in its prophecies and too sluggish in getting started... this is a huge barrier to ratifying for most of the world.

And Europe's excuse was, as often, that they were sorting out if they were going to ratify en bloc or individually, but now the Netherlands, who are hosting the next CBD meeting in April (see www.resistanceisfertile.org) and Spain, who have the EU presidency at the mo, have ratified to save face so, Mr or Ms Politician, if you were all going to ratify together, and those 2 have done it, why weren't you ready to, too? And if you ARE ready, and you don't it a toute vitesse, why the hell not?

YOU AIN'T RATIFIED, AND WE AIN'T SATISFIED

---- Americans Act

Early in January, Plant Sciences Inc. in Manteca, CA, was visited by nighttime gardeners: "We spread salt across many rows of GE strawberries, intending to disrupt research and cause economic damage. We also uprooted a test plot of GE Valent wheat." This is the second time Plant Sciences Inc. has been visited. The first time was two years ago at their Watsonville property.

---- Blockading in the Philippines

On 3rd January activists in the Philippines occupied unloading equipment to prevent over 17,000 tonnes of genetically engineered soya from entering the South East Asian food supply. In an early morning raid four people chained themselves to the largest soya factory in the Philippines where recent tests show widespread GM contamination. Protesters on inflatables then attached a large banner to the hull of the cargo ship, which was waiting to unload its contaminated cargo from America. The banner read "USA - Stop Dumping GMOs in Asia". A year ago President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's government promised to give consumers GM food labelling. She has so far betrayed that promise. Greenpeace has launched an international cyber-action and is encouraging people to add their voice to demand that the Philippines introduce labelling laws now. Info from www.greenpeace.org.uk/gm.html or phone 0207 865 8100.

---- Africa strikes back

THE Food and Allied Workers' Union (Fawu) in South Africa wants a five-year ban on genetically modified food, and threatens to strike if one isn't imposed. The Fawu deputy general secretary said "If the talks don't succeed, we will definitely consider embarking on industrial action". Limited numbers of genetically modified crops are grown in SA at the moment. Business Day ("South Africa's leading business daily"), 12 Feb.

---- Blockading in Spain

On 4th February Greenpeace activists shut down the facilities of the largest soy importer in Spain, Moyresa, after contamination from GE varieties was detected in its present US-imported stocks. They accused Moyresa of routine and deliberate contamination after the company had admitted mixing GEfree soy from Brazil with unlabelled GE supplies from the U.S. and Argentina. The activists from ten countries halted the work at the loading facilities by chaining themselves across the loading bay entrance and to the machinery.

---- US pushes south

Speaking to the Agricultural Outlook Forum 2002 in Feb, Under Secretary for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs, Alan Larson, said that the U.S. should "move quickly to help developing countries adopt biotechnology". The administration has requested an increase in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) budget for that purpose. It's already funding farming projects to help rebuild Afghanistan, some of which were started in November, at the same time U.S. warplanes began bombing Afghanistan. Larson said that "to gain acceptance of Bioengineered food products around the world the United States should disseminate more information about their benefits, which include lower pesticide and insecticide needs, reduced spoilage, greater nutritional value and other health benefits." Speaking to the same meeting Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services said that international agricultural trade is increasingly important to the United States, with one in three acres planted for export. "The trade policy landscape for agriculture will be significantly different in the next few years".

Coincidentally Monsanto, who claim their products were planted in nine out of 10 acres of biotech crops last year, have announced that developing countries represent a vast growing market. Though they admit that selling biotech crops to farmers in the world's developing nations is difficult, they have pronounced that the effort is worth it. And that Southern countries "are important markets to us, but also our technology will bring a lot of value there."

---- Patently Unfair
ActionAid has 'invented' a ready-salted chip, and has filed for a patent on it. If successful they would have legal rights over the ActionAid Chip, and any chips that have salt added to them.
Chip shop owners throughout the UK would have to pay for a licence to add salt to their chips.

The £200 patent bid was started to draw attention to the threat that the patenting of staple crops by big companies is posing to poor farmers in the developing world. New patent rules allow
companies to get exclusive rights over basic foods and even nature itself, simply by adding something to it or modifying it in a way that has not been done before.

"Our chip patent shows how absurd these patent rules are and highlights the ease with which big business is using them to deprive people of their rights. Global rules on patenting are currently being reviewed. Tony Blair must seize this opportunity to withdraw his support for food patenting", said Salil Shetty.  For a printout of their brilliant spoof newspaper on the issue, and more lobbying details look at  www.actonaid.org or ring 0207 561 7611.

---- US Farmers plough on?

According to a Reuters survey of more than 300 growers, American farmers will boost GM plantings this year. The farmers surveyed said they would increase use of Roundup Ready corn by 19.3% and Bt corn by 13.8% in 2002. The main variety of GM soya will apparently climb by 8.3%. Last year nearly 68% of US soya (about 51 million acres) was genetically modified. That compares to 54% in 2000. However, according to www.organicconsumers.org who do the BioDemocracy News list in the USA, most of the current statistics about how much is being planted come from the industry's propaganda wing. They say eagerness about GM stems mainly from the per acreage subsidies that favour high cost, low effort farming. Subsidies are set to be cut by Bush's government.

The second biggest grower of GM, Argentina, is currently being sold GM crops for less than any other seeds on the market, an undercutting that probably can't be maintained. The industry's trends themselves look a lot weaker in context. Acreage may have grown by 11%-18% in 2000 and 2001, but compare that with a 143% growth in 1999. The situation certainly seems to be levelling off. Either way GM cotton plantings will decline in the U.S. this year - Bt cotton down 8.4% and Roundup Ready cotton down 2.1%. The slump is blamed mostly on a global glut of cotton.

---- GM-free exports up

Brazil has enjoyed record corn harvests of 42 million tonnes last season, and its reputation for banning GM crops has pushed the country's corn exports to all time highs, according to independent grains analysts Safras e Mercado. The 2001/2002 net corn exports could reach a record 6.2 million tonnes compared with net imports of 1.8 million tonnes last season.

---- Bt corn sucks

Over the past six years farmers who planted transgenic Bt corn have lost about $92 million, or an average of about $1.31 per acre, according to the first farm-level economic analysis of the product. It was also observed that GM varieties have 6-12% less yield than conventional seed. "When Does It Pay to Plant Bt Corn: Farm-Level Economic Impacts of Bt Corn,1996-2001" is by Dr Charles Benbrook of Benbrook Consulting Services. A four-page summary as well as the full 33-page report can be downloaded at:
http://www.iatp.org
Source: Dec. 13, 2001 - CropChoice news

---- Bollocks

Scientists have created the ultimate GM crop: contraceptive corn. The pregnancy prevention plants are the handiwork of the San Diego biotechnology company Epicyte, where researchers have discovered a rare class of human antibodies that attack sperm. By isolating the genes that regulate the manufacture of these antibodies, and by putting them in corn plants, the company has created tiny horticultural factories that make contraceptives.

The company, which says it will not grow the maize near other crops, says it plans to launch clinical trials of the corn in a few months.

---- Croatia says no

Croatia is drafting legislation, acting on a 1998 parliamentary resolution, to ban production and limit imports of food containing GM, despite lobbying from the United States, Environment Minister Bozo Kovacevic said in January. "Considering that tourism is our strategic business and that we pride ourselves on organic farming, the government wants to stress the fact that we offer only GMO-free products as our comparative advantage. That is our national interest".

---- Italy says no

Italy will not tolerate the accidental contamination of seeds with genetic material, its Farm Minister said in January. "The position that we have on seeds is a position of 'zero tolerance' within the technical limits", he said adding that they would need to invest at least 50 million euros in customs and other controls to guarantee seeds were free of GM.

---- Lax Loaves

In January the Food Standards Agency revealed that 15% of bakery products surveyed contained GM ingredients, none of which were labelled. Three samples were found to contain more than 1% GM soya. Such products are required to be labelled as containing GM under EC regulation. It is not known how the products came to be contaminated.

---- Useful Contacts

Together, the groups below make up GEN (the Genetic Engineering Network)
1a Waterlow Road, London, N19 5NJ 020 7272 1586 gen@gn.apc.org
www.geneticsaction.org.uk

ABERYSTWYTH ACTION AGAINST GMOs ecollective@hotmail.com
AYLESBURY SHOPPERS CONCERNED ABOUT FOOD (SCOF) 01296 484535
BERKSHIRE, GREEN WATCH Doreen Wyatt on 01344 452893 or 07798 702042,
Lesley Tooze on 01344 648343
BRIGHTON GENETIX RESISTANCE 01273 628441 rowantilly@gn.apc.org
BRISTOL GE GROUPS Kebele 0117 939 9469 FoE 0117 942 129 Wilf Mound 0117 963 5740
CARMARTHEN GENE CARE 01267 234729
CAMBRIDGE CONCERNS 01223 562364 jc@home.cam.net.uk
CAMBRIDGE SNOWBALL 01223 331629 luzbug@hotmail.com
CARDIFF 02920 394745 geoffoak2000@yahoo.co.uk
CASTLE CARY Somerset 01749 860689 louise@ukonline.co.uk
CHINNOR GM CAMPAIGN Oxfordshire 01844 353748 mwestby@swinternet.co.uk
COLCHESTER GM CAMPAIGN Andy 07931 638938 Ken & Edie 01206 826321
Lreyno@essex.ac.uk
CORNWALL (GAFF) 01326 250056 gaffal@gaff73.freeserve.co.uk
(S.E.) CORNWALL REAL FOOD CAMPAIGN 01579 340215
COVENTRY GE GROUP 02476 663031 covpeace@gn.apc.org
GM-FREE CYMRU (Wales) 01348 837 614 www.gmfreecymru.co.uk
info@gmfreecymru.co.uk
DEVIZES& MARLBOROUGH FoE 01672 513950
DORSET GENETICS GROUP 01305 783621(FoE Helen) helen.el@talk21.com
GLASTONBURY GE GROUP 01458 834787
HARTLAND (N. DEVON) 01237 441780 hescott2000@netscapeonline.co.uk
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD she_d@hotmail.com HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS GM
CONCERN 0845 458 9214 coopbill@cooptel.net
HOLSWORTHY 01409 254450 cft-dlee@supanet.com
KINGSBRIDGE ACTION on GE 01548 856286 wildjessica75@hotmail.com
N. LANCASHIRE REAL FOOD GROUP 01524 811066 cherith@which.net
LEEDS EF! 0113 262 9365 leedsef@leedsef.org.uk
LINCOLNSHIRE AGAINST GE 01507 490112 gaiatrust@x-stream.co.uk
LISKARD REAL FOOD CAMPAIGN 01579 340215
LIVERPOOL GE GROUP 0151 722 7561
MANCHESTER EF! 0161 226 6814 mancef@nematode.freeserve.co.uk
NEWCASTLE 07930 741052 tapp@newcastle54.freeserve.co.uk
NORFOLK NGIN 01603 624021 (or 625188) 01328 738390 ngin@icsenglish.com
www.ngin.org.uk
NORTHAMPTON GE GROUP 01604 647916 john@nene-gen.freeserve.co.uk
NOTTINGHAM 0845 4589595 info@veggies.org.uk
OXFORD GENETICS ACTION & OXY-GENE 07796 430141 holly@gn.apc.org
PLYMOUTH GENETICS GROUP 01752 892676 plymgm@hotmail.com
RAMSGATE 07775 560309
READING GE GROUP 0118 954 6430
RYEDALE AGAINST GMOs (RAGMO) 01653 696748 josiedowns@care4free.net
SCARBOROUGH AGAINST GE 01723 370588 or 375533 sage@envoy.dircon.co.uk
SCOTTISH GENETIX ACTION 0141 334 4355 scottishgenetix@ziplip.com
www.scottishgenetixaction.org Aberdeenshire 01224 622389 Fife & Central 01333 310902
SHEFFIELD AGAINST GE 0114 273 1978 gaz_guzzler@yahoo.com
SHREWSBURY FOOD ACTION (Shropshire) paola@cwcom.net
SOMERSET AGAINST GE 01749 813787
SOUTHPORT PEOPLE AGAINST GE 01704 564524 Lolanlen@hotmail.com
SOUTH WALES ACTION NETWORK (SWAN) swangroup@yahoo.co.uk
SWINDON AGAINST GMOs 01793 790438 sbirley@gn.apc.org
S. YORKSHIRE GEN 01226 764279 pp3office@aol.com
TAUNTON (FoE) 01823 286311 mary@tushita.u-net.com
TAVISTOCK 01822 614430
TOTNES GENETICS GROUP (TOGG) 01803 840098 info@togg.org.uk
www.togg.org.uk
GE FREE WALES02920 229577 cymru@foe.co.uk
WELLINGTON 01823 664776 doohlally@yahoo.co.uk
WHITBY (WAGE) 01947 606189 griffins_of_whitby@msn.com
WORTHING GENETIX CAMPAIGN West Sussex genetix@worthing.eco-action.org

ACTION AID 020 7561 7611 zelford@actionaid.org.uk www.actionaid.org
ACTION ON INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE agricultureaction@yahoo.com
BU AGAINST VIVESECTION 020 7700 4888 info@buav.org www.buav.org
COMPASSION IN WORLD FARMING 01730 264208 compassion@ciwf.co.uk
CORPORATE WATCH 01865 791391 mail@corporatewatch.org
www.corporatewatch.org.uk
EARTHFIRST! ACTION UPDATE PO Box 487 Norwich NR2 3AL 07944 874393
efactionupdate@bigfoot.com
FIVE-YEAR FREEZE 020 7837 0642 enquiry@fiveyearfreeze.org
www.fiveyearfreeze.org
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH 020 7490 1555info@foe.co.ukwww.foe.co.uk
THE GAIA FOUNDATION 020 7435 5000 gaia@gaianet.org
GE-FREE FORESTRY (GEFF) geffcoalition@hotmail.com Also contact WEN
GENEWATCH UK 01298 871898 mail@genewatch.org
GENETIC CONCERN 00 3531 4760360
GENETICS FORUM 020 7837 9229 geneticsforum@gn.apc.org
GENETIC FOOD ALERT 01803 868523 coordinator@ geneticfoodalert.org.uk
www.geneticfoodalert.org.uk
GENETIX SNOWBALL 01273 628441 genetixsnowball@onet.co.uk www.gn.apc.org/

pmhp/gs
GMO CAMPAIGN 01865 513224
GM PRISONER SUPPORT 0161 226 6814
GREENPEACE UK LTD 020 7865 8100 info@uk.greenpeace.org
www.greenpeace.org.uk
GROWING AWARENESS 00 3532 820232 growing.awareness@indigo.ie
HENRY DOUBLEDAY RESEARCH ASSOC. 01203 303517 rog@hdra.org.uk
www.hdra.org.uk
HUMAN GENETICS ALERT 020 7704 6100
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR ECOLOGY AND CULTURE 01803 868650
isecuk@gn.apc.org
NATIONWIDE FOOD SURVEY www.wkweb4.cableinet.co.uk/ pbrown/index.htm
NATURAL LAW PARTY 01962 852122 nlpwessex@bigfoot.com
NORTHERN ALLIANCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY 020 8672 3454 iza@cpa-iza.u-net.com

SCOTTISH CONSUMERS' ASSOCIATION FOR NATURAL FOOD 0141 334 488
georgestidolph@btinternet.com
SOIL ASSOCIATION 0117 987 4562 action@soilassociation.org
www.soilassociation.org
TROLLEY THEATRE trolleytheatre@bigfoot.com www.trolleytheatre.org
UNCAGED (INCL. XENOTRANSPLANTATION CONCERN) 0114 272
2220uncaged.anti-viv@dial.pipex.com  www.xenodiaries.co.uk
WOMEN'S ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK 020 7481 9004.  www.gn.apc.org/wen

If there isn't a listing for a group in your area, EarthFirst!, Friends of the Earth or Greenpeace may have a local group working on genetic engineering. If they don't, set one up yourself. GEN or your nearest local contact can give you tips and support.

DIARY DATES
9th March Big glam rally against a winter sown farmscale trial of GM oilseed rape auaciously poking its leaves up in a Warwickshire field.
Speakers and sounds in Stratford-Upon-Avon Town Hall, followed by coaches and costumes to the site from 2pm. GO TO THIS, IT'S GOING TO BE GREAT AND IT'S THIS SATURDAY!!!!!!!
12th March- Scottish parliament hears petition proposing ending farmscale trials in Scotland. 16th March- Pre-planting protest against Dorset's 3 new farmscale trials (see contacts page for erm, contacts). Three US farmers will be touring the land speaking about their experiences with GM crops.
Monday 18th March - Market Rasen, Lincolnshire.
Tuesday 19th March - Norwich, Norfolk.
Wednesday 20th March - Hereford
Thursday 21st March - Dorchester, Dorset Entrance to all meetings is free and they start at 7.30pm. Contact GEN for more details.
22nd March Munlochy trials.
8th -19th April resistanceisfertile CBD COP 6 meeting, in the Hague, Holland
www.resistanceisfertile.org or phone GEN forleaflets or info.
late April/early May Local UK Campaigns day, in London, to be arranged, contact GEN
4th May- second round of Munlochy trials.
1st-2nd June World Food Summit, + 5, Rome.

RESOURCES
For regular campaign news and ideas, send an email to
majordomo@foe.co.uk
with subscribe gm-action in the text.
For more news and factual info email ngin@icsenglish.com or
www.ngin.org.uk
Campaign and action info from genetics@gn.apc.org
Corporate Watch have put together a briefing on Bayer.
There's a bunch of updated leaflets from ToGG
- What's Wrong With Genetics
- GM Animal Feed
- Food and Freedom
And GM-free Cymru have got car stickers and posters.

If you need any help getting hold of antigenetics resources or if you have any to offer - contact the GEN office (see contacts page for details).

ALL CONTENTS ARE ANTI-COPYRIGHT
Disclaimer: The editors are not responsible.

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