New Global GM Campaign - 'Local Governments against GMOs'

Date: 10.09 21:44 Uhr

Received: 14.09 20:59 Uhr

We are grateful for the report below from the NLP in Essex (a county in the UK north east of London) concerning the resolution of Colchester Council on Friday evening to call for a ban of GM crop trials in the Borough and surrounding areas.

UK local government councils now actively involved in considering their position or taking action in relation to GM crop trials in the UK include:

Highland Council (Scotland)

West Dorset District Council (Wessex)

West Lindsey District Council (Lincolnshire)

Stratford-Upon Avon District Council (Warwickshire)

Colchester Borough Council (Essex)

This is in addition to the whole of the principality of Wales endeavouring to stay GM-free despite pressure from the British government in Westminster. Many other councils have already banned GMOs from their own canteens and school meals.

An increasing number of Councils in the US are also starting to take a stand against GMOs. Local Authorities are not in the pockets of transnational corporations. They are our main political hope for stopping this madness.

Get on the phone now to your council and start a grass roots brush-fire in your part of the world. Once these councils realise they are not alone they will have a powerful opportunity to form a GLOBAL ALLIANCE of local authorities against central governments and their biotech allies throughout the world.

Find your local council's home page on the web and start emailing officers and councillors. Or START A PETITION (see example of one at the bottom kindly provided by the Gaia Trust in Lincolnshire - but make your own according to your own situation and demands, as this will be different according to what part of the world you are.) When you've made some progress then put all the councils in touch with each other. They are ready and waiting for this.

The decision to call for a ban on GM trials in the Colchester area was taken on Friday 8 September and already the Council is taking action to join forces with its neighbours.

In the words of Michael Meacher, UK Minister of State for the Environment: "Now, of course, if local authorities all over the country declared they didn't want it, then it probably would not be possible to go ahead." (BBC Radio 4 'Today Programme' interview on GM field-scale trials, 17 March 2000).

Local authorities want to stop this - they just need to see your support to justify it politically.

If you need a background paper to explain to councillors, officers and citizens, the fraud and hazards of GMOs see:

NATURAL LAW PARTY WESSEX

Last night Colchester councillors unanimously agreed the recommendation from the environment and transport policy panel calling for a ban of trials of genetically modified crops in our area.

The resolution ratified by the full council last night reads:

"This council is concerned about genetically modified crop trials within or close to the borough and the potential hazard they pose to residents of the Borough of Colchester and the local environment. The Council will therefore use its best endeavours to ensure that such trials do not take place until such time as they can be demonstrated to be safe.

Recognising that this is a problem that crosses district boundaries, Colchester Council will approach other Essex district councils and Babergh District Council with a view to working together in addressing this potential danger to our residents and our environment.

In furtherance of its aims the council will seek the support of county councillors who represent Colchester Borough residents as well as members of Parliament for Colchester and North Essex along with members of the European Parliament for the Eastern region."

9 September 2000

Ryan Warne

(EXAMPLE UK PETITION SUPPLIED BY GAIA TRUST, LINCOLNSHIRE

these are being printed on postcards and distributed locally in shops, markets, pubs etc)

(Example Campaign 'Flyer' provided by Gaia Trust)

The Gaia Trust

Working towards a healthy and sustainable world through education, encouragement and example

GM crop trials

Firstly, I would just like to say thank you for your continued support on this matter. After working on GM issues for almost 3 years I sometimes find myself thinking 'why bother', yet, when I get such massive support from the local community it reaffirms why I do bother. Because it is not just myself who has these concerns, it is a vast majority of the population.

You know, the industry and the government have this annoying (to say the least) policy which seems to imply that the general public is stupid and that we should have no say at all in what happens to our health, our environment or our future. Well, we might not be scientists, we might not understand what a PAT gene is, or recombination or any of the other genetic terms currently bandied about by the industry, but we do have an abundance of something which is seriously lacking in the proponents of this technology. We have common sense and we have the ability to apply that sense to what is taking place in the world. We are not stupid and we are not blind. We can see what is happening and most of us want it to stop. We want to build a future our children will be proud to inherit yet our wishes are constantly ignored and laws and regulations continually changed to ensure that we do not have a say.

The future is ours, it belongs to us all, and we have as much right as anyone to direct how that future will be. If we apply that right to what happens at a local level, then we have more right in deciding the future than a central government and certainly a far greater right than a foreign company who has no loyalty to our community at all.

If something goes wrong with these trials, if our health, our environment or our agriculture is irreparably damaged in some way, then these companies are not going to compensate us, they are not going to wait around, they will not care, they will just go somewhere else. And as for central government they have made their policy on these trials very clear. They have stated categorically that they are not liable if anything goes wrong but at the same time neither have they brought in any legislation to decide who is responsible. The industry says it is not their responsibility, SCIMAC says it is not theirs, so who does that leave? The farmer conducting the trials? The local community?

Well. It seems to me that if we are going to have to face the consequences of these experiments alone, if it is going to be us that has to pay the ultimate price, then we should have the right to decide whether these trials take place at all.

After all it is the taxpayers money that is paying for these experiments. Yet the taxpayer will not profit, because the only profit is for the companies.

So, what can we do? How can we ensure that our voice is heard? How can we ensure that we exercise our right to decide for ourselves? The industry will not listen, central government will not listen, but local government will - If we speak out loud enough. Many of our local councillors already share our concerns, but they need to know how we feel. They cannot act on what they presume is local opinion, they must know what that local opinion is. We must tell them.

There is considerable controversy over whether these trials are really agriculture or whether they are research.

Firstly they are trials - which the dictionary describes as a test - to see the effects of a change in farming practice. This change is brought about by using herbicides in a different way to what they have been used previously. In the case of the winter rape it is also a trial, a test, to see what effect these herbicides will have on our groundwater. The herbicide Glufosinate cannot be used for agricultural use between September and March in order to protect groundwater - yet this restriction has been lifted to allow these trials, these tests, to take place.

Agriculture is the cultivation of land for the growing of crops for animal or human consumption. Testing herbicides is not agriculture. Experimenting on our water supply is not agriculture. It is research. As such the trials should be subject to planning consent and to local consultation.

The government says this is not true, it is purely agriculture. The industry says this is not true, of course it is agriculture. As I said before we may not be scientists but we do have the ability to use our common sense and reason. Both common sense and reason says that these trials are not agriculture - and personally I really do not care what legal terms they use to prove their point - I know, we know, that these trials are research, that they are experiments, taking place in our community without local consultation and local debate.

We cannot rely on our government to support us so we must therefore take responsibility for ourselves. We must ensure that planning regulations are applied to these trials - immediately. And we must ensure that all GM trials only go ahead subject to local consultation and local decision.

A few people speaking out will not make any difference. We have to show that there is massive local support for this matter.

Enclosed are some postcards, please, sign them, get your friends and your neighbours to sign them. If you can, do not rely on someone else posting them, cards get forgotten in pockets and bags, if it is possible collect them and send lots in one envelope. Ask if your local shop will distribute to customers and have a collection box there, so they can be signed and posted in one go, ask at your local pub, post office, village hall, coffee morning,

We can make a difference. We can ensure that we really do have a say in our future. But we need to work at it and we need to build momentum. If you have time perhaps you could cover other localities, help with a stall on a local market or car boot giving out information and collecting more signatures. Think of other ways to get names sent to the council. I cannot stress too strongly that there is no time to waste. It has to be now or it will be too late. If you can, please, get names and addresses for our mailing list. If someone signs a card perhaps they will help in getting others to sign.

I hope that you, that we will all work together. It is very easy to think that these companies would not purposely put crops on the market that could be detrimental to our health or our environment - after all what would they gain by doing so? Well, the answer to that is profit. These companies already own most of the worlds medicine and most of the worlds chemicals - now they want to own the worlds staple food supply. If something goes wrong, if we become ill, who will get paid to try and find treatments (not cures) for our new illnesses? If our environment is damaged who will get paid to try and clean up the genetic pollution? Who really stands to benefit from this technology regardless of the risks?

I do not apologise for saying what I feel - I do not know of any other way to be. I care about the people of this planet and I care about the planet itself. I care about our community and I care about the future of our children - and I know that you care too. Our future is not fixed, we can make it what we want it to be, but not on our own. We need to work together and we need to start now.

If we are to get local consultation on this issue, if we are to exercise our right to decide for ourselves, then we have to look further than one village. We aim to put out at least 5000 of these cards throughout the East and West Lindsey districts. That many voices will be heard.

Please, sign your card today, post it today, that will be a start. Then ensure that others send in their names. Not next week and not next month but now. Today.

If you need more postcards or more information or even the cost of sending in bulk cards, then contact us. We will be happy to help. Arrange small local meetings, talk to your friends and neighbours, explain what is happening, and enlist their help and support. We all need to be aware of what is taking place on our doorstep, we need to be aware of the possible risks, we all need as much information as possible. And we have no time to waste.

Once again my thanks for your support.

My very best wishes

Kate O'Connell

On behalf of The Gaia Trust

"Cowardice asks the question: is it safe?

Expediency asks the question: is it politic?

Vanity asks the question: is it popular?

But conscience asks the question: is it right?

And there comes a time when one must take a position

that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular

but one must take it simply because it is right."

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

The Gaia Trust

Anderby, Skegness, Lincolnshire. PE24 5YD

The Gaia Trust