Bristol Blockade of Sainsburys Depot: GM and Farming are the issue!
for_a_GM-Free-SouthWest | 02.07.2004 14:12 | Bio-technology
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0 - A police checkpoint is in place at the Sainsburys's distribution depot in Emerson’s Green, Bristol.
1 - Despite the police presence, a collation of farmers and regional anti-GM activists manages to secure a lock-on blockade at the only entrance to the depot around 11pm.
2 - The first of the banners goes up. It reads: GM-fed Dairy: Untested, unlabeled and in here.
3 - The second banner goes up and the full lockdown is in place. It reads: Dairy Farmers say: fair prices for GM-free milk! This refers to the GM-free milk that Sainsburys's have introduced which is more costly than normal milk and although the farmer has to source GM-free animal feed (which costs a little more) – this small additional production cost is a fraction of what Sainsburys are putting on the consumer price AND they are paying the farmer no extra at all!
4 - Gerald, an organic farmer from Wales, in lockdown position next to Somerset and Bristol-based anti-GM activists.
5 - A police cameraman videos activists putting a third banner up.
6 - A few of the many lorries unable to deliver/pickup because of the blockage.
7 - A the morning light appears, the banners become more visible.
8 - 5am and the blockage is still in place! It is finally ended by the activists under threat of arrest at 5.35am.
for_a_GM-Free-SouthWest
Comments
Hide the following 2 comments
slightly misleading....
04.07.2004 12:10
We also got to keep the kit...see you next week?
same time - same place?
GMfreeWest
Sainsbury's can't face truth about the depot blockades!!
07.07.2004 21:08
nation jointly condemned Monsanto's efforts to force GM on Africa. Monsanto
urgently called on PR company Burston Marsteller to tackle the crisis. The
advice to the whole industry was never to admit that African farmers and
leaders opposed GM and to pretend that all the opposition originated from
white, middle class Europeans - specifically Greenpeace - who were happy for
African babies to die in the interest of their extremist ideology. The
biotech industry and their allies have since then blamed every anti-GM
protest in Africa and every protest by peasant farmers on Greenpeace.
Sainsbury's are now pretending that the joint farmer and activist blockade of
their depots was arranged by Greenpeace - see emailed statement below.
Greenpeace seem impressed by the action but have had to tell dozens of
journalists who called them that this was completely independent from
them....
> From: Parveen Johal [mailto:
> Sent: Monday, July 05, 2004 2:06 PM
> Subject: Statement
>
> We're disappointed that Greenpeace has chosen to target us when this is
> clearly an industry issue. Overall all of our depots have responded very
> well in ensuring minimum disruption to service. Our milk does not contain
> GM ingredients. Milk is highly regulated and like all supermarkets, we are
> subject to stringent food safety controls. Our milk is sourced from
> British dairy farms that supply other UK supermarkets, like Tesco and Asda
> - as well as hotels, schools and hospitals. The Food Standards Agency has
> categorically stated that there is no evidence that milk from animals fed
> on GM crops contains any GM material.
>
> To offer choice to our customers, we have launched a new milk from cows
> fed on non-GM feed which is now in over 100 stores.
A Mole