Statements

Martin Shaw

This is also a personal journey, as I believe that for most of our lives we are our own jailers. Even when we see things happening that we feel are clearly wrong we do not act largely due to the fear of the personal consequences. This fear is created and perpetuated by the state, they have the power to take away our liberty, take us from the people, places and activities we love and that make us human. By taking this action I am moving through fear, although I wrn probably never be without it as a nagging doubt.

I respect and obey most of the laws of this land but not all of them all the time. Everybody and every system is fallible and makes mistakes. I believe that releasing GM plants into the environment and food chain at present is such a mistake of monumental proportions. This cannot be prevented by legal means at present so it falls to me and other people taking this action to uphold a higher moral law of do not damage what is not yours i.e- the environment.

Every survey I have ever seen and the vast majority of people I have spoken to, do not want GM plants growing in this country. If the government is not prepared to represent the will of the people then I am not prepared to yield to their dictate, because they are not acting in the public interest. I believe that the government should call a five year moratorium on this unnecessary, unwanted and unsafe technology.

There are several important reasons why herbicide tolerant sugar beet which is resistant to antibiotics is particularly problematic to both humans and the environment and why I am safely enclosing some of them today.

English Nature, the government's statutory body charged with the protection of the natural environment has called for a moratorium on the release of herbicide resistant crops until important research is completed early in the next century. This call for a precautionary approach was endorsed by the Royal Society for the protection of birds (RSPB) which has over one million members.

The governments own Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP) recommended in 1994 that: "Researchers developing food GMOs should be encouraged to develop and use alternatives to antibiotic resistance markers and/or methods to jettison those used" [1]. Why then is Sharpes Seeds International releasing a crop with antibiotic marker genes four years after this recommendation and in a test that is planned to last for ten years?

Sharpes may claim this is a "legitimate experiment" but its simple purpose, as stated in the GMO public register is simply "to evaluate the level of tolerance to glufosinate and agronomic performance of the GM sugarbeet in field trials"[3] does not address any of environmental or health concerns of sugar beet and GM crops in general. I would not interfere with any test field site that was likely to produce objectively collected useful data which is added to the collective pool of scientific knowledge.

In a report by the Department of the Environment called 'Genetically modified crops and their wild relatives- A UK perspective' produced in 1994 it states that: "The history of hybridisation and introgession between sugar beet and wild beet suggest that, when grown on a commercial scale, the escape of transgenes from the crop is highly possible. Even without hybridisation the transgene may be able to persist in weed beets derived from bolters or volunteers" it goes on to say; "Thus escape of the transgene to a crop weed, and perhaps to a lesser extent to a weed of disturbed habitats, is entirely plausible".

This action is also intended to send a clear message to British Sugar plc which as the sole processor of sugar beet in Britain is in a position of influence. As the company that basically controls the growing of sugar beet in this country if they made a clear and principled statement that they would not commission the growing of GM sugar beet then much of the research would probably cease. Sugar beet constitutes approximately 20% of the deliberate releases of GM plants [3].

British Sugar have said that; "The UK sugar beet crop, from which sugar is extracted and sold in the retail market under the Silver Spoon brand ... has not been the subject of any genetic modification ... Neither are there any plans to introduce genetically modified varieties in the foreseeable future" The final paragraph says that; "British Sugar is carefully monitoring the progress of the new gene technologies and will review the range of end consumer's views towards this technology". As a customer, end consumer and citizen I do not want GM sugar to be grown.

[1] 'Report on the use of anflbiotic resistance rnarkers in genetically modified organisms' Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP) July 1994.

[2] 'Genetically modified crops and their wild relatives- A UK perspective' Department of the Environment 1994.

[3] GMO public register May 1998 produced by the DETR.

[4] 'Modern biotechnology and the sugar beet crop British Sugar's position' 21.5.98