GM Potatoes to be grown in Cambridge — campaign meeting, 13th March

The Ger­man multi­na­tion­al chem­i­cal com­pa­ny, BASF, has been grant­ed per­mis­sion to plant genet­i­cal­ly mod­i­fied pota­toes at NIAB in Cam­bridge from the end of this month.

BASF were forced to pull out of these exact same trails in Ire­land last year because they could/would not com­ply with con­di­tions imposed by the Irish Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency. Clear­ly the safe­ty rules being set by the British gov­ern­ment are suf­fi­cient­ly lax so as not to incon­ve­nience the com­pa­ny. No such crop trails have tak­en place in this coun­try in the last three years, after mas­sive pub­lic pres­sure forced the gov­ern­ment and the com­pa­nies involved in the tech­nol­o­gy to back down.

The Ger­man multi­na­tion­al chem­i­cal com­pa­ny, BASF, has been grant­ed per­mis­sion to plant genet­i­cal­ly mod­i­fied pota­toes at NIAB in Cam­bridge from the end of this month.

BASF were forced to pull out of these exact same trails in Ire­land last year because they could/would not com­ply with con­di­tions imposed by the Irish Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency. Clear­ly the safe­ty rules being set by the British gov­ern­ment are suf­fi­cient­ly lax so as not to incon­ve­nience the com­pa­ny. No such crop trails have tak­en place in this coun­try in the last three years, after mas­sive pub­lic pres­sure forced the gov­ern­ment and the com­pa­nies involved in the tech­nol­o­gy to back down.

You could have been for­giv­en for think­ing that that argu­ment was over and the anti-GM bat­tle won…but you would be wrong…

If you are con­cerned about the return of GM exper­i­men­ta­tion right here on our doorstep, come along to a meet­ing to dis­cuss how we can resist it. The meet­ing will take place at 3 Fletch­ers Ter­race (off Mill Road) at 7:30 next Tues­day (13th of March) and is open to every­one.

Map to Fletch­ers Ter­race — http://tinyurl.com/2n67hy

Bel­low are some resources that give some inter­est­ing back­ground infor­ma­tion about GM in gen­er­al and the pro­posed trails here in Cam­bridge in par­tic­u­lar.

An arti­cle in The Ecol­gist, 22 Sep­tem­ber 2006
http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=612

Whole load of GM info and links
http://www.munlochygmvigil.org.uk/uk_2006.htm#Anchor-GM-49575

Friends of the Earth Press Release on the GM pota­to issue
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/uk_government_urged_to_rej_30112006.html

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON THE CAMPAIGN…