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GE - 500 on protest march in Gloucestershire

Date: 6 Mar 1999 17:17:17 -0600 
From: devatalk@mcmail.com 
Subject: [Fwd: Groundbreaking 'people's ultimatum' GM protest march in 
Gloucestershire, United Kingdom]

The demonstration in Gloscestershire UK today was very 
successful. 200 expected and 500 turned up!!!! Also a camera 
crew from the BBC Panerama program were there and were 
absolutly delighted - they may also include and interview 
with Dr. John Fagan in the broadcast they are planning. Dr. 
Fagan will be talking to MP's at a meeting in the House of 
Commons on Monday and at a debate at the University of 
London on Tuesday. 
Also Mark Griffiths of the NLP in Wessex has supplied some 
new background material on research in the USA showing how 
the crops aren't living up to the biotech claims and a main 
TV channel will be broadcasting it on Thursday evening. 
Also coming up a newspaper report on GM in Easter eggs!!!! 
This one courtesy of Ron Baxter of the National Food Survey 
with Friends of the Earth doing the research work - great 
idea......


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Reply-To: "NLP Wessex" <nlpwessex@bigfoot.com> 
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From: "NLP Wessex" <nlpwessex@bigfoot.com> 
Subject: Groundbreaking 'people's ultimatum' GM protest march in 
Gloucestershire, United Kingdom 
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 23:13:08 -0000 
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Return-Path: nlpwessex@bigfoot.com
CALLING ALL THOSE ACROSS THE GLOBE WHO WISH TO SEE AN END TO GM FOODS!!!! 
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We are grateful to Lyn Searby (Gloucestershire natural foods retailer) and 
Henry Brighouse (Natural Law Party, Stroud and Cotswold) for providing 
details of this important anti-GM food action. Lyn and Henry are the 
co-founders 
of the "Stroud Campaign for Safe Food", who, as one of the first groups of 
its kind in the UK, have been campaigning since 1996 against 
genetically modified food.
This work has now culminated in the groundbreaking anti-GM food march and 
presentation of a people's ultimatum to local food retailers which will take 
place in Stroud tomorrow morning (6 March 1999) .
This initiative is remarkable for the way it has brought together hundreds 
of concerned individuals and local groups in such a dynamic and effective 
fashion.
It demonstrates what can be achieved at the local level as 
national governments across the globe fail to meet their obligations to 
protect the health of their citizens and environment against the 
introduction of this irresponsible so-called 'science' and its associated 
'technologies'.
It is anticipated that Saturday's groundbreaking march will receive national 
media attention in the UK.
THIS ACTION CAN EASILY BE REPLICATED IN EVERY LOCALITY ACROSS THE GLOBE.
PLEASE JOIN TOGETHER WITH YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS TO REPEAT IT IN YOUR OWN 
AREA WHICHEVER COUNTRY YOU HAPPEN TO BE IN WHEN YOU RECEIVE THIS MESSAGE 
(WHICH 
IS BEING FORWARDED TO CONCERNED GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS ON ALL CONTINENTS).
PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE ON AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE.
At the end of the press release below is a full copy of the Stroud group's 
campaign statement which is suitable (with appropriate adjustments) for use 
in similar local GM actions throughout world.
We are also pleased to include a copy of Henry Brighouse's own personal 
statement. Copies of all participating bodies statements will be available 
shortly 
from the Stroud group who can be contacted via Trevor Searby at 
watertalks@cwcom.net .
For more information on the dangers of genetically modified foods and crops 
please visit our web site at the address below.
NATURAL LAW PARTY WESSEX 
nlpwessex@bigfoot.com 
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex
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PRESS RELEASE
CAMPAIGNERS AGAINST GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS DELIVER ULTIMATUM TO 
SUPERMARKETS IN STROUD. GLOS. SATURDAY 6TH MARCH 1999.
Hundreds of people are expected to turn out today for the Stroud Campaign 
for Safe Food march to five supermarkets in the town to deliver a document 
supported by numerous individuals and organisations in the area.
The document is calling for a boycott of all processed foods on supermarket 
shelves with a recommendation that consumers return to home-cooking using 
natural ingredients until supermarkets can guarantee their products to be 
from non-GM sources.
The march is expected to attract mainstream media coverage and the 
organisers hope that the initiative will be taken up throughout the 
country.
Co-founder of the group Lyn Searby of Mother Nature Foodshop said, "The 
Stroud Campaign for Safe Food has been running for two and a half years. The 
shift in consciousness to more natural lifestyles, is in sharp contrast to 
the Governmentis eout of touchi policy of promoting biotechnology and GMOs. 
A huge groundswell of public opinion is starting to take shape, exercising 
consumer power to challenge the might of the multinationals".
The march will conclude with a public reading of the statement, by Henry 
Brighouse 
(Natural Law Party); a reply from David Drew (Labour MP for Stroud); a 
presentation from the Marchioness of Worcester to the local manager of the 
Iceland chain for their stand on GMOs, and closing comments by the Mayor of 
Stroud, John Marjoram (Green Party)
So far, statements of support for the document had been 
received from:
Gloucestershire Bio-diversity Partnership in association with the Wildlife 
Trust 
Greenpeace 
Natural Law Party 
Green Party 
Stroud Beekeepers Association 
The Acorn School 
Stroud Sixth Formers (302 signatures). 
Painswick Inn Project 
Mother Nature Foodshop 
Stroud Natural Health Clinic 
Gloucestershire Organic Gardening Group 
The Green Shop 
Kolisko Farm and Farm Shop 
Woodruffs Organic Caf#233# 
Good Gardeners Association
Itinerary: 
10.30 am: Top of Stroud High St, march begins visiting Tesco, Coop, 
Sainsbury, Somerfield. 
12.30 pm: Statements to be made on the forecourt of the Stroud Subscription 
Rooms. 
12.55 pm: visit Waitrose. 
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THE STROUD DOCUMENT ON GMOS - MARCH 1999
Supermarkets stand nearest to the consumer in the food chain. They have the 
power to choose what to put on their shelves. Given the wide range of 
possible dangers posed by GMOs (genetically modified organisms) to health 
and the environment, supermarkets (excepting the Iceland chain) are failing 
in their moral duty to their 
customers.
They force the consumers to exercise their powers of discrimination in order 
to avoid 
all processed food containing soya and soya derivatives, ie soya oil, 
vegetable oil and fat, flour improvers, lecithin, soya flour, soya 
protein.....; maize and maize 
derivatives, ie corn flakes, corn chips, corn starch, corn oil....; rennet 
in cheese and tomato paste. Many additives are also suspect.
The Stroud Campaign for Safe Food is recommending a boycott of all processed 
foods currently on supermarket shelves, 80% of which now contain some gm 
ingredients. This means a 
healthy return to home cooking, using basic ingredients, until processed 
foods 
can be guaranteed to be derived from non-GM identity preserved sources, as 
they are in the Iceland chain, the only supermarket to guarantee ingredients 
in all own brand products to be derived from non-gm identity preserved 
sources (ie they know where they were grown).
Danger to Health
GMOs are introducing an entirely unknown risk into the food chain on a 
massive scale without proper testing. These risks 
include increased antibiotic resistance, allergic reactions, toxic build up 
and a breakdown of the immune system.
Unnatural Science
Genetic engineering is fundamentally different from traditional cross 
breeding, which takes place within single species, or near relations, of 
plant or animal.
Genetic engineering cuts through all of natureis safety barriers at a stroke 
e.g inserting fish or insect genes into a tomato. The technology is limited 
only by 
the imagination of the scientist in his laboratory (hence the name 
Frankenstein food).
The complexity of the DNA is not fully understood by scientists. Forcing 
unnatural genetic changes at this most basic level of nature destabilises 
the holistic functioning of the DNA leading to unpredictability in the life- 
cycle of the organism, weakening the plants (or animals) and polluting the 
genetic 
information passed on to all future generations. This genetic pollution 
cannot be 
cleaned up. It will be the legacy we leave behind for the future.
Inadequate Safety Testing
Because GMOs are unstable, they can produce unexpected toxins and 
allergens, dangerous to humans, animals and the environment.
The current policy of "substantial equivalence" testing, which measures only 
the known components of a natural organism against the GM version, is wholly 
inadequate as the unexpected is not what is being looked for.
If the government applied adequate safety testing, the whole technology 
would have to be abandoned as entirely uneconomical, but the government is 
not prepared to embark on such safety measures.
Control of the Food Chain
GMO patents and World Trade Organisation protection are putting the whole 
food chain into the control of a few giant chemical/biotech companies who 
have a long track record of environmental 
irresponsibility for the sake of profit alone. (See Ecologist Magazine 
"Monsanto Files" October 98.)
Government eOut of Touchi
Government Ministers are either concealing the truth for undisclosed 
reasons, 
ignorant about the facts concerning GM technology and its risks, or helpless 
to control it, and so they are promoting it (classic example - Jack 
Cunningham on the Radio 4 Today Programme). On this issue the Prime Minister 
imagines he is bravely confronting a stampede of ignorant protestors. In 
fact, the "stampede" he refers to comprises a huge ground-swell of well 
informed citizens all heading in the opposite direction, leaving him 
increasingly isolated. We invite him to have a change of heart and 
re-establish our confidence and support. Have we not learnt from previous 
food scares n BSE, Salmonella in eggs?
Danger to Environment
GMOs seriously threaten biodiversity on the planet through dangers of 
cross-pollination (already happening), through increasing reliance on vast 
mono-cultures in 
previously richly diverse areas (accelerating the destruction of small 
farming communities in 
developing countries), and through increased use of broad spectrum 
herbicidal chemical 
sprays.
The rich biodiversity of plants, animals and insects in different areas of 
the planet has taken billions of years to develop. The survival of the human 
species is intimately connected to the balance in nature, which this 
biodiversity represents. 
At this critical time, rather than further destroying the balance in nature, 
science should be seeking 
to gain a closer harmony with nature and its holistic functioning. Support 
of natural law is the best insurance 
for the future.
Denial of Choice
The sudden all pervasivness of GMO ingredients, especially Soya and maize in 
the 
food chain, is removing the choice of consumers as to what we eat and how it 
is produced. It is denying the fundamental right of freedom of choice.
Our Farmers at Risk
GMOs will remove the freedom of farmers to choose what they grow and how 
they grow it, even denying them the right to save their own seed, a practice 
which has been at the heart of farming since the beginning of time. 
Farmers in America who are tied into binding contracts with the giant 
biotech companies are already being sued for small contract breaches. 
Pinkerton detectives are even being used to make spot checks and surprise 
visits to check up on farmers.
The law is being used to intimidate the farmer and curtail his traditional 
freedoms.
Disputes are also arising increasingly between farmers growing GM crops and 
their 
neighbours, especially organic farmers, because of the contamination caused 
by cross-pollination i.e. GM pollen carried by birds, insects and wind. 
GMO test sites in Britain are already posing a serious environmental 
threat and pollen is being carried over far greater distances than safety 
measures have allowed for.
Biotech companies who find crops with their patented GM plants growing among 
them 
(which could well have been carried through cross-pollination) instead of 
paying compensation 
to the farmer for contaminating his crops are likely to claim property 
rights over the affected plants. 
This is already happening in America.
Farmers and the community
Farmers are invited to re-integrate with their communities, setting up farm 
shops and farmers' markets 
to sell local, preferably organically grown, healthy produce.
The future?
Think of the world you would like to see in twenty years time and start 
creating it now!
(PLEASE MAKE COPIES AND DISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE)