Deponent : Jo Hamilton : 1st
Sworn : March 1999
Exhibit : "JH1"

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE	1998-M-NO 1180
QUEENS BENCH DIVISION
BETWEEN

MONSANTO PLC 
Plaintiff

-and-

(1) ROWAN TILLY
(2) JO HAMILTON
(3) KATHRYN TULIP
(4) MELANIE JARMAN
(5) ZOE ELFORD
(6) ANDREW WOOD
(sued on their own behalf and on behalf of all the other members or
representatives of "genetiX snowball", an unincorporated association) 	Defendants



AFFIDAVIT OF JO HAMILTON



I, Jo Hamilton of 161 Hamilton road, Longsight, Manchester M13 0PQ , make oath and say as 
follows:

I make this affidavit from facts within my own knowledge except where otherwise stated.  

There is now produced and shown to me a paginated exhibit "JH1" containing copy documents to 
which I shall refer.  

On July 4th 1998 I entered the test filed site at Model Farm, and pulled up 25 GM crops. My 
reasons for doing this were set out in my letter to the farmer, a copy of which is at page 1 of JH1. 

I first heard about GM food when a friend of mine, Zoe Elford came back from a gathering in 
Rome, and told me  about the dangers of GM. It seems clear to me that without energy and 
commitment to telling people of the potential dangers of GE food, it would not be such a big issue 
today.

One of the first meetings I went to about genetic engineering was the Cambridge Concerns 
meeting, on June 7th 1998. For the entire day, I heard scientific information from Dr Ricarda 
Steinbrecher and Dr Michael Antonio about how genetic engineering works, the theories behind it, 
and why it is too early to introduce this new gene technology into the public domain. From 
listening to people and reading other articles, I came to the conclusion that I really had to take 
action on this subject, as it was clear that the government and the companies involved were not 
going to take people's concerns into consideration 

I became informed through reading a lot of information, by groups such as the Genetic 
Engineering Network, Women's Environmental Network, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, 
together with other scientific papers and magazines such as Third World Resurgence. From 
reading these I realised how huge this issue is, and that it was not going to go away unless there 
was concerted action.

I chose to pull up 25 plants as I wanted to add my actions to the growing number of actions 
against GM food. I chose to join in with the genetiX snowball campaign, and to be part of the 
group that is organising it, because I believe that it is only with the actions of many people in the 
UK that we can change things. I chose to act in an open and accountable way because I believe 
that I am taking a legitimate course of action when it is apparent that the regulatory bodies have 
failed to act. My statement which I left at the site is at page 2 of JH1.

Whilst opinion polls in the UK have consistently over the last twelve months shown that 70-77% 
of people are against GM food, the government and the biotech companies have consistently 
ignored public opinion and forced this food into our fields and onto our plates.  Whilst big 
businesses and governments are colluding with each other to make their agenda of control and 
profit a reality, I have no reason to believe that the government will fairly represent me on this 
issue. Whilst our government is being sponsored by biotech companies (Novartis sponsored part 
of the Labour Party conference in  Autumn 1998), whilst the revolving door between the US 
administration and Monsanto is spinning off its hinges (The Ecologist, Vol 28 no.5, which is at 
page 3 of JH1), and whilst control and pressure is being exerted on the UK government to toe the 
line or risk being catapulted into another trade war with the US and WTO (news reports on Radio 
4 from 1-17th March 1999 referring to the Banana trade war), I do not believe that the government 
will act in the best interest of British citizens. When this happens I feel I have to take action to 
voice my opinions, and this action manifested itself in pulling up 25 GM plants on 4th July 1998. 

My action was aimed at sending a message to the company, the farmer and the public that GM 
food is unwanted, unnecessary and unsafe. Monsanto happened to be the company involved. I 
have also taken part in the genetiX snowball action at Sharpes Seeds,  Boothby Graffoe, 
Lincolnshire on the 16th August 1998, so my action on the 4th July was against Monsanto only in 
so far as they claim to own the crops. To me the action itself was more important than which 
company happened to be irresponsibly testing their genetically engineered plants.

Sworn this    day of March )
1999 at           )
          )

before me

.........