HIGH VISIBILITY “BOYCOTT BAYER” CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED BY GM ACTIVISTS
London, 23th March, 2004
Release: Immediate

Today anti-GM campaigners launched a boycott of leading genetic modification company Bayer with the release of high visibility posters for distribution around the country. They aim to put up 10,000 of the posters outside of doctors surgeries, chemists, vets and garden centres where Bayer products are sold.

The posters are produced by an independent group, called “Boycott Bayer”, in support of the aims of the Stop Bayer GM campaign. Their aim is to focus public attention on the campaign to prevent Bayer from introducing Chardon LL, a modified maize designed for animal feed, as the first GM crop to be commercially grown in the UK. The aim is to raise the profile of the campaign against Bayer, and to make them aware of public opposition with a consumer boycott of all their products.

Bayer sells a large range of products in vets, chemists and garden surgeries, including famous brands such as Alka Seltzer, Canesten and Baby Bio. This makes it easy for consumers to take action against the company, which has already suffered a string of financial problems. Bayer has recently fired their top GM employees across Europe as they failed to to stem the tide of increasing public opposition to genetically modified foods.

To get the message out, campaigners have produced a brightly coloured poster, displaying Bayer’s most popular products and explaining the boycott.

Andrea Sibbald of Boycott Bayer said of the posters: “They are ideal for putting up near places where Bayer products are distributed to encourage the boycott Bayer products. We also call on shops, doctors and other outlets to pull Bayer products from their shelves.” Leaflets have also been produced to complement the posters with more details and aimed at public consumption.

Posters and leaflets will be distributed for free, and can be ordered by emailing  media@boycottbayer.com.

The posters will provide anyone concerned about GM with a simple but effective way to take action against Bayer. The campaigners are asking those against GM crops to find relevant and public places to stick up the posters, and also to encouraging local shops to join in the boycott by displaying posters and leaflets.

Mark Lisle from the campaign said, “Bayer thought they could make money from GM crops in the UK; we are going to make it a very costly mistake for them. They may have the government on their side but they cannot go on ignoring the fact that 90% of the UK do not want their foul crops.”

Images of the poster and leaflet can be found on the website at www.boycottbayer.com.

Notes for Editors:
1. Boycott Bayer campaign spokespeople Andrea Sibbald and Mark Lisle can be reached on 07780 567 471 or  media@boycottbayer.com. More information on the Boycott Bayer campaign, including images of the poster and leaflet and associated literature is available at www.boycottbayer.com

2. Boycott Bayer has been set up in March 2004 to distribute information and encourage a mass consumer boycott of Bayer products. Boycott Bayer is a separate campaign group from StopBayerGM.

3. The Stop Bayer GM campaign is dedicated to preventing the commercial production of GM crops in the UK. Bayer is currently the only company with commercial crops ready for official listing in the UK, and has several more in the pipeline. The campaign has vowed to stop Bayer in its tracks and there is currently a vigorous campaign against the company by grassroots activists around the country. Protestors are targeting all links in the chain, from every Bayer site to the companies selling the GM seed, to the farmers planting it. If the crop is found in the ground, promises have been made by activists to take it out themselves. Anti-GM activists have already had great success in decontaminating many fields sown with GM trial crops.

4. Bayer is hoping to launch it’s genetically modified maize Chardon LL later this month. It will be the UK’s first commercial GM crop and will be used as feed for cattle and sheep. It has two other varieties of GM crop (Winter Oilseed Rape PHW99-429 and Spring Oilseed Rape PH965452) also seeking approval for the National Seed List, a precondition for commercial growing in the UK. Since the start of the process all other companies, including Monsanto and Syngentia, have withdrawn their varieties, leaving Bayer as the sole promoter of commerical GM crops in the United Kingdom.

5. For more information on the arguments against GM crops, and the various campaigns against them visit www.genewatch.org, www.gmwatch.org, www.geneticsaction.org.uk and www.fiveyearfreeze.org. Gene Watch can be reached at 01298 871 898 or  mail@genewatch.org, and can provide background material on the scientific objections to GM crops. Boycott Bayer and Genewatch are not affliated in any manner.

6. The text of the poster is here:
Bayer leads the push for genetically modified (GM) in the UK. They grew 85% of last year’s GM crop trials. They own over half the crops currently seeking approval for growing in the EU. 90% of the people in this country do not want GM crops. GM offers no benefits for us, but will make Bayer richer and turn our countryside into a giant factory for them. We must stop GM crops – they are a health hazard and will destroy our environment. One Bayer drug, Baycol, killed 52 people in 2002, so why would be trust them with our food? Take action now: boycott all Bayer products until they pull of out of GM.