Statements

Simon Chislett

After having informed myself of the arguments for and against the genetic engineering of crops, I have come to the conclusion that it poses a very real and present danger to the ecological stability of the natural environment and to human health.

There is no absolute proof that it is safe and much proof that it can have unexpected and dangerous side effects. As far as I can determine, humanity does not know enough about how genes function to know the full implications of the release into the environment of GE crops. Furthermore, almost all releases that are happening in the UK at present are not designed to find this out, they are for uniformity and agronomic tests. There is almost no long-term testing for impacts on human health or the environment.

In the light of this, I have found myself agreeing with the aims of the genetiX snowball campaign which calls for a moratorium on the testing of GM crops until they are proved safe. An absence of evidence is not evidence of safety.

I find this in an atmosphere of stasis and confusion. A recent MORI poll showed 77% of the UK public doesn't want GE food, many respected genetic scientists are calling for a halt on research, even English Nature, the statutory body responsible for advising the government on the environment, has called for a 3 year moratorium on commercial releases, yet nothing is being done. Jeff Rooker, deputy minister of agriculture has said "the Government is not in the driving seat." Who is? Sometimes responsible people need to do things that seem extraordinary in order to move things on, I believe this is such a time. I have therefore decided to pull up 25 plants, my age, to prevent a crime. I realise that this is in no way all of the crops but feel that my action will hopefully inspire many others to find out why I have done it and find out what potential problems the crops have. Thus the release of GMOs will be stopped far more quickly than I could ever do so acting on my own, by increased public pressure on our democratic system.

There is an unknown probability of horizontal gene transfer and other genetic pollution, to surrounding fields and the entire environment. The longer GMO crops are allowed to remain in the ground, the greater the risk, therefore immediate action is necessary to reduce that risk. If there is even a low possibility of something going wrong, statistics and Murphy's law show that it is only a matter of time until something will go wrong and in this case it will probably be irreversible and potentially disastrous.

I also believe that the DETR is in breach of the regulations regarding consent to release GMOs into the environment. A risk assessment has to be made of the possibility of escape of transgenic organisms. One of the areas that has to be considered is spread due to human intervention. Whilst I will be endeavouring to fully protect myself and the environment from any spread of transgenics, I cannot believe that many of the destruction's of test field sites that have gone on over the country have been as thorough, (I have seen pictures of people doing things in normal clothes) Thus I argue that the risk assessment of human intervention which is at present regarded as 'low' is inaccurate. To my knowledge nearly 20 test field sites have been visited by concerned people in the last year out of a total of 200 test sites (information from the Genetic Engineering Network). A proven risk of disturbance of 10% can hardly be described as low and I believe that the DETR should stop issuing consents until this is rectified.

I therefore do my action with regret, that our democratic system is failing us, and that I have to take such direct action, but I also do it with hope that we will realise the dangers and stop before its too late.

Signed

Simon Chislett