Category: Action Reports

21.04.2007 – GM Protestors have planted non-GM organic potatoes on a site that it is believed the Government will authorise for the testing of a BASF genetically modifed potato.

About 250 people attended the protest in Hull to listen to speeches and enjoy a GM free potato picnic – some food provided by Veggies of Nottingham and music. Protesters then spread across the large (several acre) field, with a few police, some on horses, others on trail bikes, some even had learned to walk. Some filming. Some impotently asking people to leave the field. Then we did because we’d run out of potatoes.

The trial site for Cambridge has already been approved. After having to move the proposed northern site as a previous farmer backed out the closing date for submissions about the new site near Hull was yesterday. Local farmers have already tried to get the trial stopped.

Many local farmers are reliant on bees keepers coming to the area to pollenate their crops, this won’t be able to happen with the trial of the genetically modifed crop close by. The mutatoes created by Chemical Multinational BASF has previously been rejected by the Netherlands because the lack of trials in a controlled (greenhouse/lab) environment. BASF also pulled out of Ireland because unlike the UK Governement they placed restrictions thay the German based corporation found to harsh for them.

http://www.mutatoes.org/
http://www.hedonagainstgm.org.uk/
http://www.cambridgeaction.net/gmconcern
http://www.myspace.com/gmfreepotatoes

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Protestors plant GM trial site with organic potatoes. (press release)

People from all over the country are currently planting organic potatoes in the field proposed as a GM potato trial site outside Hull. It is hoped that the donation of safe spuds will prevent the planting of the controversial crop, which threatens the livelihoods of local borage growers and organic farmers.

Anna Lock explained;
“If you want to eat good safe potatoes, you have to plant good safe potatoes. By planting organic potatoes in this field today, the field will be rendered unsuitable for the GM trial. Scientific experiments need controllable variables, tiny organic seed potatoes hidden deep in the ground are a variable controlled only by nature. These seed potatoes will grow and BASF’s experiment will no longer be possible on this site.”

The rally started as a GM-free potato picnic accompanied by live music with around 300 protestors, including kids and cyclists and many dressed as Mr Potato Head. A large number then set out across the field to plant organic potatoes. The rally marks the end of the governments consultation process on the experiment. The crop is the first to be proposed after public pressure bought an end to the trialing of GM in the UK nearly 3 years ago.

Yolande Black travelled all the way from Bristol to attend today’s protest,
” I think the government is testing the water with these potato trials, and it is vitally important that we show them that resistance is still alive and kicking and that we will continue fighting them every step of the way. GM is not a solution. 20% of conventional potato varieties are already resistant to blight and BASF have admitted that there is no market for GM food in the UK.

80 acres of borage have recently been sown near the trial site, and the crop will fail if beekeepers keep to the British Beekeepers Associations guidelines of keeping hives at least 6km distant from GM crops. The GM farmer has announced that he will not proceed if the issue is not resolved for his neighbours.

Note to editors:

1. Contact details: Carl McCoy on 07858 177 178 or visit the website at Our websites are www.mutatoes.org
2. The site is one of two due to be planted this year, the second proposed trial site at the National Institute of Agriculture and Botany (NIAB) in Cambridgeshire last weekend. The Hull trial site is to replace the one in Derbyshire after the farmer who pulled out. BASF intends to continue the trials for the next five years
3. Borage is a lucrative crop grown as a source of Starflower Oil and used as a healthfood supplement and in skincare creams and cosmetics. BASF failed to contact the local borage farmers in advance of the trial. The farmers stand to lose up to £80,000.
4. On 5th April a public meeting and debate about the planting of the GM potatoes was held in Hedon. Dr Arpad Pusztai was one of the speakers attending. His experiments into feeding GM potatoes to rats appeared to demonstrate the GM potatoes cause damage to the rodents immune systems and growth rates. The work raised massive public concern and awareness of GM, but the experiments were never repeated. His evidence, and those of BASF’s PR representative, caused the local council to renew their 2003 stance against GM. Opposition from local people attending was also strong, and a petition is due to be handed over to DEFRA and the farmer concerned before the rally.
5. In North America where GM crops are now widespread, cross-pollination regularly contaminates surrounding crops, even jumping species. Earlier in 2007 it was found that the experimental rice line LL601 had contaminated worldwide rice supplies, causing massive loss of markets, despite assurances that it was in a low risk cross pollination category.
6. BASF is a multinational company based in Germany. They were part of the notorious AG Farben which manufactured poison gas for the concentration camps, used slave labour and was convicted of war crimes at the end of WW2. It claims to be the largest chemical company in the world, and in 2005 it was the 3rd biggest global seller of pesticides.
7. Both Ireland and the Netherlands were due to run BASF’s GM potato trials, but these were abandoned after concerns were raised about the environmental threats they posed.
8. Protestors are planting around 3000 organic seed potatoes of several different varieties.

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Wrong field, right result

Given a 4-figure map reference which only has one clear unplanted field, it’s an understandable mistake.

Even if it’s the wrong field, it doesn’t make much difference. The pea crop is mostly still underground, only a few shoots have broken through the soil. This means the people walking around the field did no appreciable damage to the crop.

The real test is not potatoes for blight resistance; it’s about testing the UK public for GM resistance. By having over 100 people taking direct action on the site in broad daylight in front of the cops has given a clear result to the test.

The pea farmer isn’t going to be out of pocket, and the prospective GM farmer and the BASF directors are going to have the clear message that wherever they plant it, it will be ripped up.

Well done to everyone involved.

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25.04.2007: Statement from Mutatoes.org and campaigners against Hull’s GM potato trials

On Saturday, over 250 people from around the country attended a rally in Hull in a powerful and vibrant display of resistance to the reintroduction of GM crops to the UK.

In a bid to invalidate the trial, thousands of organic potatoes were planted across a two hectare field. It was felt necessary to take action before planting because it is virtually impossible to decontaminate a root crop after it is in the ground. Unfortunately, we discovered today that the field planted on Saturday was not the proposed trial site and was instead owned by farmer David Buckton. We apologise to David Buckton.

With the information that we had and the short time scale available to us (between the late announcement of the trial site and the first possible opportunity to plant the GM potatoes) we sincerely believed this to be the correct field.

There were several reasons for the error made:
• The public were not given sufficient information by the government who supplied only a 4-figure grid reference for the location of the trial (an area of 1 square km).
• In a public meeting on April 5, a local farmer suggested that the proposed site was currently planted with oil-seed rape. This was flatly denied by the BASF representative who implied that the field was clear and ready for the trial.
• The only field in the area bordered by Marfleet, Hedon and Preston where ground had been prepared but which had not yet been planted with a crop was the one just East of Marfleet. There were no unplanted fields in the area
covered by the four figure grid reference given by DEFRA. Consequently, because these grid references are notoriously unreliable we investigated all fields within several hundred metres of this reference, the only one prepared for planting, but not yet sown, was the one in question.
• The Government’s consultation period ended on 20th April, with the 21st being the first date that the GM potatoes could be planted; hence why the Rally was called for last Saturday.

The decision was made under pressure, by a campaign only three weeks old; a campaign which pulled off an audacious action nonetheless. It is our position that we made the best judgment that we could as to which was the proposed trial site. While it is regrettable that the wrong site and farmer were targeted, we would also like to make it clear to the government and to industry that people will continue to disrupt the planting of GM crops despite the difficulties faced by this lack of full disclosure.

Mutatoes.org has only been in existence for three weeks now, and working to a tight schedule, with very few people. In that time we gathered loads of up-for-it people willing to go into a field in broad daylight and take direct action for the planet. It was a successful action in all other aspects: the potatoes were planted, we did it under the noses of the police and there were no arrests. The message sent out is clear – attempt to grow GM crops in this country and we will take action. Of that we remain proud, and thank everyone who came along and took part, in what ever role.

Despite a mistake being made we believe it was far better that we went ahead and challenged the GM trials than stood by doing nothing. We clearly demonstrated the British public are willing to take on the multinationals / government on this issue. Though it was, and remains, our avowed intention to prevent the trials from going ahead, we are fully aware that these trials are as much a test of public opinion as a genuine scientific experiment. Consequently, although the wrong field was targetted we still achieved one of our primary objectives of demonstrating that the British pubic are resolutely opposed to GM crops and will take action to resist their reintroduction into the UK.

The multinationals behind GM crops have bided their time since Bayer pulled out from the last trials three years ago. But they have been pressing ahead in the rest of the world. It is vital that we, as a movement, rise to the occasion, and demonstrate that resistance is as vigourous as ever. We are unapologetic for what we have attempted to do and we will not cease our efforts to keep the UK GM free.

And as useful byproduct – we now know where the actual field is, thanks to the police…

rally@mutatoes.org
http://www.mutatoes.org