Take the Flour Back! Mass action against GM wheat
Take the Flour Back | 28.03.2012 08:28 | Bio-technology | Ecology | Health
Take the flour back!
Sunday 27th May 2012
Public day of action against the Rothamsted genetically modified wheat trial.
Sunday 27th May 2012
Public day of action against the Rothamsted genetically modified wheat trial.
Bakers, farmers, growers, allotment holders, scientists, beekeepers, and people who eat food are turning out to voice their opposition to GM crops coming back to the UK.
Meet Sunday 27th May, at 12 noon, in Rothamsted, Harpenden, Herts. Or take your own action in your own way, at your own time. Together we can stop this trial.
Cow genes on toast anyone? No thanks!
What's up with the trial?
It could be dangerous.
This trial is testing a brand-new synthetically-constructed 'fake' gene that is 'most similar to one found in a cow'. This is a concerning use of synthetic genes and of animal genes in plants.
It's not wanted.
Even the USA has abandoned attempts to commercialise GM wheat because there is no market for it. Biotech company BASF recently backed out of Europe because no-one wanted to buy GM food.
Once it flowers, it's here to stay.
The trial is happening in the open air, meaning that when it starts to flower it can cross contaminate other wheat crops and wild grasses. This is a real threat. In Canada there is no organic oilseed rape left because all the farms have been cross-contaminated with GM rapeseed.
For more info nearer the time, go to www.taketheflourback.org or contact us at info [AT] taketheflourback.org
Meet Sunday 27th May, at 12 noon, in Rothamsted, Harpenden, Herts. Or take your own action in your own way, at your own time. Together we can stop this trial.
Cow genes on toast anyone? No thanks!
What's up with the trial?
It could be dangerous.
This trial is testing a brand-new synthetically-constructed 'fake' gene that is 'most similar to one found in a cow'. This is a concerning use of synthetic genes and of animal genes in plants.
It's not wanted.
Even the USA has abandoned attempts to commercialise GM wheat because there is no market for it. Biotech company BASF recently backed out of Europe because no-one wanted to buy GM food.
Once it flowers, it's here to stay.
The trial is happening in the open air, meaning that when it starts to flower it can cross contaminate other wheat crops and wild grasses. This is a real threat. In Canada there is no organic oilseed rape left because all the farms have been cross-contaminated with GM rapeseed.
For more info nearer the time, go to www.taketheflourback.org or contact us at info [AT] taketheflourback.org
Take the Flour Back
e-mail:
info@taketheflourback.org
Homepage:
http://www.taketheflourback.org
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Final details
19.05.2012 09:04
Wheat is wind-pollinated. In Canada similar experiments have leaked into the food-chain costing farmers millions in lost exports. There is no market for GM wheat anywhere in the world.
This experiment is tax-payer funded, but Rothamsted hope to sell any patent it generates to an agro-chemical company. La Via Campesina, the world’s largest organisation of peasant farmers, believe GM is increasing world hunger. They have called for support resisting GM crops, and the control over agriculture that biotech gives to corporations.
‘Take the Flour Back’ will be a nice day out in the country, with picnics, music from Seize the Day and a decontamination. It’s for anyone who feels able to publically help remove this threat and those who want to show their support for them.
Meet Rothamsted Park, Harpenden, Herts (30 mins from London by train) 12 noon on 27th May. At 1.30pm we’ll take a 20 minute stroll on public footpaths to the trial site.
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Transport is being organised from various parts of the country. For more information, see -
Please read the legal briefing, available at -
What to bring
You should bring:
Water
Food
If you plan on attending the decontamination, please bring bags to cover your shoes
If you can, please bring these:
A copy of the legal briefing -
An OS map -
Banners
Placards with messages on
Props
Seeds to swap
Bread and cakes to share (+ tasty stuff to go with that)
Bakers outfits, aprons, bakers’ hats
Messages and photos to tie to the fence around the wheat trial
Gloves
If you are able to bring your own biohazard protection and dustmask, please do
Please be aware that you may be searched by police on the way to, or at, the meetup point.
There are several very important non-GM long-term research trials happening at Rothamsted. It is crucial that we don’t go into or disturb these field trials in any way.
The Park Grass Meadow has been a protected experimental site since 1856, and has been described as one of the most important in the world in the area of biodiversity, containing many species of wildflower, wild grasses and insects.
The Broadbalk experiment was set up in 1843 and is the oldest continually-running field experiment in the world. Some areas are sown continously with wheat, while in others wheat is sown in rotation with other cereal crops. This site also provides an invaluable reserve for seven nationally rare or uncommon species. Section 8 of the field is one of the few arable sites in the country where herbicides have never been applied. Crop and soil samples have been kept from this experiment for over 150 years, providing evidence of air pollution and climate change.
We are appalled that Rothamsted are jeopardizing the integrity of this scientific inheritance by planting GM wheat metres away from it despite the risk of cross-contamination.
We aim to have stewards marking off these fields on the 27th, but please be careful and take responsibility for ensuring that you don’t stray into any fields other than the GM wheat trial, which has an enormous 12 foot high green fence around it. Use this map as a guide:
Take the flour back
e-mail:
info [AT] taketheflourback.org
Homepage:
http://www.taketheflourback.org