My apologies for duplicate postings.
However, the clarity and the power of this open letter make it something that
should be read more than once.
[GM denotes "genetically modified," which means genetically engineered.] [BSE
denotes bovine spongiaform encephalitis, also known as "mad cow disease."]
People in Europe are far more militant than our citizens in resisting genetic
engineering, due probably to better information from their media than is
available here, where news organizations like The Des Moines Register claim
in their editorials that genetic engineering is nothing new. (See DMR, 15
October 2000.)
Tom Mathews
Sierra Club, Iowa Chapter
Genetic Engineering Issue Chair.
------------------------------------------------
Subj: Welsh challenge to UK GM Minister
Date: 03-01-18 13:40:05 EST
From: [log in to unmask] (NLP Wessex)
To: UndisclosedRecipients
OPEN LETTER FROM GM FREE CYMRU [Wales]
Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP
Secretary of State for the Environment,
House of Commons,
Westminster,
London SW1A 0AA 16th January 2003
Dear Minister,
GM Crop Plantings and the Public Interest
While the Government's low-key "GM debate" is going on, largely
unnoticed by the public, there are major developments almost every day which
lead us to make some very serious observations about the behaviour of the
big biotechnology companies and about the extraordinary complacency of the
Government.
May we remind you of a few recent events which should have a bearing on the
Government's attitude to GM crops?
1. The disgraceful "burial" by members of your own staff at DEFRA of the GM
Oilseed Rape Contamination Report, published on Christmas Eve 2002 and
deliberately kept away from the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly until
their Draft GM Regulations were approved.
2. The complete failure of ACRE to recognise the implications of that
Report, which are spelled out in our letter dated 11th January to your
colleague Michael Meacher.
3. The Report on GM Crops and Human Health issued by the Health Committee
of the Scottish Parliament on 15th January.
4. The recent submission from the BMA on GM Crops and health. That
organisation, representing 120,000 doctors, has repeated its call for a
moratorium on GM crop trials, expressing concerns over the impact of GM
foods on long-term health.
5. The admission by the American FDA that they have done no independent
studies of the impact of GM crops and foods on human health, and that they
have simply accepted the assurances of the GM multinationals that "there is
no problem". Further, they say that their requests for company research
information on health effects have simply been ignored.
6. The continuing state of denial within the Food Standards Agency of any
health effects arising from the consumption of GM foods, in spite of the
fact that transgenic DNA, often containing antibiotic resistance genes, can
be taken up by bacteria in the human gut, with the potential to make
bacterial infections untreatable.
7. On-going efforts to vilify and marginalise those independent scientists
(including Dr Arpad Pusztai and Dr Mae-Wan Ho) who have the courage to
express their concerns about the impact of GM crops.
8. An extraordinary refusal on the part of the key Government agencies to
replicate studies that tend to demonstrate the toxicity of GM foods, or to
commission serious and statistically significant clinical trials designed to
show just what happens to people who eat large quantities of GM foods on a
continuing basis.
9. On-going doubts about the Farm Scale Evaluations of GM crops and about
the manner in which many of these trials have been manipulated for the
"research convenience" of Aventis and the other seed owners.
10. Serious problems within the GM / biotechnology industry worldwide,
indicating that consumers and shareholders alike are losing confidence in GM
crops.
11. An on-going "fudge" by the Government and its advisory committees on
the definition of harm and the placing of liability arising out of the
damage done by GM crop plantings.
12. The arrogant and dismissive attitude of ACRE and ACNFP to the immense
volume of sound science and other matters presented by expert witnesses at
the Chardon LL Hearing.
It seems to us that the Government's attitude to GM crops thus far has been
underpinned by two key assumptions, namely (a) that GM crops are
"substantially equivalent" to conventional related varieties; and (b) that
health and safety matters were all dealt with a few years ago, and are
therefore off the agenda. These assumptions were questionable in the first
place, and are now proven to have been profoundly at fault. The idea of
"substantial equivalence" was recently described by Dr Vyvyan Howard as "a
scam", and other senior scientists have also dismissed it as being a piece
of scientific nonsense. And health and safety matters are now assuming huge
importance, as shown by the debate in Scotland. In the light of this
emerging consensus, the Government's attitude is increasingly unsupportable;
and you will be aware of the strong criticism from the Scottish Health
Committee that this Labour Government has placed far too much stress on the
environmental side of the GM debate at the expense of consideration of
health effects, and that you and your colleagues have demonstrated an
inadequate commitment to the precautionary principle which should underpin
all Government policy.
May we remind you that you are personally liable for the consequences of GM
plantings in the UK? If (as now seems increasingly likely) the British
countryside and British agriculture will be faced in the future with
unconstrained contamination by GM varieties and by superweeds, and if (as
now seems increasingly likely) damaging health effects are identified in
connection with GM crops and GM foods, where will the GM / biotech companies
be then? They will be bankrupt, dead and buried, with no resources to cope
with litigation from organic farmers, let alone with those of us suffering
from allergic reactions and other health effects. The UK tax-payer will
foot the bill, as he/she did with the shambles surrounding BSE and the other
shambles surrounding F/M disease. And with all due respect, you yourself
will have moved on to higher things, leaving behind a dreadful legacy.
May we also remind you that we have given up on ACRE, ACNFP, SSC, FSA and
SCIMAC, all of whom have demonstrated tunnel vision and a commitment to the
promotion of GM technology which is nothing short of a disgrace. The Royal
Society is also involved in the promotion of GM crops and foods. They all
appear to be incapable of joined-up thinking, and incapable of understanding
just how sophisticated are the views of the general public on matters to do
with GM. The only compensation arising from the incompetence of these
committees is that neither you nor any other Minister are obliged to follow
their advice; and we urge you to take the decision NOW, on the basis of the
points made above, to announce an immediate moratorium on all further GM
crop plantings in the UK pending serious and protracted research on health
and other issues. This means that you should not give consent for the
commercialisation of Chardon LL, whatever your advisory committees may be
telling you. And if, as a consequence of your refusal, Aventis threatens to
take you to court, so be it! They will not do it, since a court case would
reveal everything.
The biotechnology companies are now fully aware that GM crops are harmful --
why else would they persistently refuse, both in the
USA and in Europe, to release their own health and safety research into the
public domain? Over and again they hide behind the smokescreen of
"commercial confidentiality." And why do they systematically vilify those
who dare to raise health and safety issues, and those who simply report
"inconvenient" research findings? Furthermore, these companies are involved
in a concerted and determined attempt, using blackmail through the WTO where
necessary, to force their technology and their crops and foods on consumers
who do not want it, in this country and abroad.
Our final question is a very interesting one. For how long can you, as a
politician charged with a duty of care, maintain the pretence that you are
"unaware" of the concerns of the public and of the dangers associated with
GM crop plantings? We do not believe that you can maintain this pretence
any longer, with so much evidence tumbling into the public domain every day.
At some point (and we believe that it should be NOW) you must part company
from your advisers and your civil servants and invoke the precautionary
principle in order to protect the British public. If you do this, even at
this very late stage, you will win huge respect.
In conclusion we remind you that nobody wants GM crops in the British
countryside apart from a handful of biotechnology companies and a few
scientists working in the GM field. These crops are not needed; they have
no demonstrable advantages over conventional crops; there are no "general
good" or "public interest" considerations which might support GM plantings;
and on any sane
cost-benefit analysis the predicted costs (economic, health and
environmental) are vastly greater than the predicted benefits.
Please tune in to the instincts of the British public on this and make clear
the Government's refusal to sanction further GM crop plantings in the UK.
Then we can all get on with our lives instead of having to cope with the
tomfoolery of a group of bioscientists and academics who should be doing
better things with their expertise and our money.
We will appreciate a considered reply. This is an open letter which will be
widely read, and very many people will be waiting to hear what you have to
say.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Dr Brian John
for GM Free Cymru
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