West Country Bio-technology Feature Archive

Sainsbury's chilled food distribution centres were blockaded across the country on Thursday in protest against GM feed being fed to dairy cows. Sainsbury’s five biggest UK distribution centres were shut down as evironmentalists and consumers simultaneously blockaded the supermarket chain's chilled-goods depots in London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol and Sheffield. They were chained together through steel tubes, or sat up scaffold tripods, blocking the depot gates. The co-ordinated action was intended to halt distribution of Sainsbury's dairy products that come from cows fed GM animal feed.

The protest follows Sainsbury’s failure to provide non-GM fed milk as standard, despite rivals like Marks and Spencer and the Co-op doing so. The action was taken in solidarity with farmers, demanding they get a fair deal of 2p on the pound for non-GM milk. The coalition of groups campaigning on this issue includes Farmers for Action, the Small and Family Farmers Alliance, The Small Farms Association, the Wholesome Food Association, the Institute of Science in Society, Genetic Food Alert and the Genetic Engineering Network (see GM animal feed campaign PDF). Also see National press release

Local reports: Birmingham report, photos and video | London
Yorkshire | Liverpool [ 1 , 2 ] and photos [1 | 2]
Bristol report and photos
Sainsbury's Essex Waltham Point Depot Blockade Report
See also Genetic Engineering Network

In a related action, farmers in Barnstaple blockaded a Sainsbury's store, while consumers and campaigners labelled GM milk inside the store: report and press release here.

Latest news:
Cows leaflet shareholders are Sainsbury AGM - Monday 12th July
Store demo in Plymouth - Saturday 10th July
Farmers vist Welsh store - Saturday 10th July
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Hot on the heals of Bayer's withdrawal of Chardon LL GM maize comes yet another confirmation that all is not well for the UK GM crops industry. For the first time in over 10 years, research reveals that none of the Gene Giants (Syngenta, Monsanto and Bayer) are conducting any UK field trials of GM crops.

This year sees a massive reduction in the total number of GM field trials in the UK from a peak of 159 in 2000-2001 to 42 in 2002-2003 to just 1 in 2003-2004.

This may have something to do with the fact that 91 trials out of 476 have been damaged or destroyed in the last five years. This has had a significant impact on the industry because the majority of those targeted were the national seedlisting trials, which are compulsory for the seed licensing process .




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Bayer have withdrawn the only GM crop with (partial) commercial approval. They blame government regulation and caution for holding up the crop which is now technologically and economically obsolete. However it has taken five years to get just one crop this far, which has been the result of the delays caused by the many crop trashings, lobbying, blockades, research and not a little consumer pressure.

When a government announces commercialisation of a GM crop, and then three weeks later, the very large multinational company responsible withdraws it from commercialisation, it would be a fair assumption that someone, somewhere, has put a spanner in the works.
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With the commercialisation of the first GM crop, currently dormant activists maybe wondering what to do next...Well, activists all over the country (especially in Devon!) have been targeting Sainsbury's GM-fed dairy products. This has been done by bandit labeling, crazy giant maize, and dancing on the roof almost a whole herd of crazy gm-fed cows... Read more >>

On 15th December 2003 a District Judge in Weymouth, Dorset found four anti-GM activists guilty of aggravated trespass for attaching themselves to tractors. The activists were attempting to prevent the sowing of a trial of GM maize near Weymouth in May 2002.

This marks the end of a drawn-out and contradictory legal process which saw all four activists cleared of aggravated trespass by the same District Judge in March 2003. The Crown Prosectution Service (CPS) appealed and had the verdict overturned by two High Court Judges who ordered a retrial, with instructions that the defendants should be found guilty. The four now face prison for refusal to pay the punitive costs.

Full Report | video | audio | earlier verdict one two | background history | Pink Castle website

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Bayer Noise Demo - Report
togg, 15.11.2003 10:44

Around 100 anti-bayer campaigners gathered outside Bayer HQ in Newbury on Thursday and made a horrible bloody racket.

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Despite Promises, Supermarkets have still not removed GM fed dairy produce from their shelves, to show customers the 'missing ingredient', totnes genetics group have now made three visits to Sainsbury's in Torquay, Newton Abbott and last Saturday, (22nd Nov) Plymouth...
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During the last six weeks, unknown to most people, there have been a series of public debates up and down the country about whether the government should allow the commericalisation of GM crops in the UK. The deadline for public input is now over - did you have your say?

In an exclusive film made for Indymedia, people from all over the country reveal that the public consultation was a poorly advertised, ill concieved and miss-managed farce that failed to engage ordinary people. The film also demonstrates that much of the public believe that the decision has already been made to push ahead with GM (regardless of the will of the people) and that the government is an undemocratic tool of U.S. interests and big business.

Watch the video,

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On Thursday 25th April, British anti-GM activists disrupted Bayer's AGM in Köln, Germany. Simultaneously, Bayer Crop Science's UK HQ was blockaded to cause economic damage to their business as a protest against their moves in to GM crops last year with the purchase of Aventis Cropscience. The blockade held for five hours and there were eight arrests.

UK action - video, photos & report
German Bayer AGM action
Background - Bayerhazard, CBG

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DEFRA will allow the planting of the genetically modified winter oilseed rape trials following the results of seed testing for GM contaminants. Last week, Dorset Police Press Department were forced to correct their original media statement which claimed that protestors had targeted the wrong field during an action at Hilton in Dorest. Fourteen were arrested for 'criminal damage' and aggravated trespass when they attempted to decontaminate the illegal GM trial site. The protest was in reaction to the news that an unauthorised release of antibiotic-resistant GM oilseed rape has occured in over twenty five GM trials since 1999. [ contamination report | action report | photos | video ] Read more >>

UPDATE: At 1.45 pm, today, over 150 people, including families with children, held a colourful and peaceful demonstration at the DEFRA offices in Smiths Square, London. They left large bags of GM crops from trial sites around Britain at the entrance. They were calling for no commercial growing of GM crops and an end to GM crop trials. People left at about 2.40 p.m See report and movie of action.

A convoy of people from Devon will arrive in London on Wedensday July 24, joined on route by other concerned citizens from all over the country. They will converge at Westminster, to voice a strong message of public resistance to the commercialisation of Genetically Modified (GM) crops. The current GM crop trials, which are almost complete, have been contaminating the environment for over three years and are widely recognised as fraudulent. Read more >>

After seven weeks, a GM crop squat in Dorset is over. The field had been occupied by protesters with a 20ft tall pink castle since April 25th. The GM maize crop has now been completely destroyed and the trial written off. Protesters celebrated over the weekend then packed up and left the site. Read more. Read more >>