Statements

Zoe Elford

"There are moments and issues in history were Parliament is inadequate and it falls to the people themselves to act. With the case of genetic engineering and the granting of patents on life I believe we have reached one of those historic moments". --Alan Simpson MP for Nottingham.

The juggernaut of genetic engineering speeds ahead at an astounding rate, so fast that few even see it fly past. The situation under which genetic engineering is imposed on us is constructed to be invisible to the average eye but daily consumed and ingested without knowledge, without consent. The stuff pours in as imports and is planted all over Britain.

No one possesses the know-how to assess the effects of releasing genetically engineered organisms into an endlessly complex and intricate ecosystem. Not one of us can predict the toll this technology may have on human health. The risks are simply too great and we must follow the precautionary principle ourselves as governments have failed to do so.

This journey we have been taken on - where will it take us?

The road is clear, the bollards of regulations, the pelican crossing of public debate, the speed limits of public distrust and scientific uncertainty all flattened by the hit and run of the supersonic genetic scramblers. Waved on through by the US administration and fuel injected by domestic and EU political will, the windows are washed to a high sheen by the PR machine.

But not all are seduced by the gloss. What if, like me, you catch a glimpse of the probable destination and decide you don't want to be taken on the trip?. If the British government can't do any traffic control then we must take it upon ourselves to act responsibly; this legitimate course of action has been taken in order to avert a disaster I see waiting to happen. Today with only non violence in my mind and in my heart I will take out of the ground 99 genetically engineered plants. In ensuring their safe disposal I will be working towards ensuring a millennium free from genetically engineered food. This possibility is brought nearer and nearer as more and more citizens take action to protect their food supply, the environment and assert their right to determine what they put in their bodies.Governments have been wheel clamped by the vested interests of multi national corporations. In the absence of governments acting appropriately in accordance with the wishes of the electorate and its own countryside organisational advisers it is the average folk who are left with the responsibility to take the wheel. We will drive to a place where the needs of the majority can be safeguarded and the integrity of the ecosystem left alone.

I invite others to join me in putting on the brakes of this run away experiment. We are able to move the central reservation closer into the fast lane - the grotesque juggernaut of genetic engineering can be crashed.I invite others to tread this road of non violent civil responsibility, to continue taking up the genetech road and to plant for a real future, to act for democracy, for diversity and to restore a land lush with fields free of genetic pollution and food free of genetic contamination. We are rapidly close to the end of nature, to losing the natural world to multinational corporations and governments complicit in their myopic, manic scheme. We can still win it back. Afterall, anything we love can be saved.

RSVP

Zoe Elford

4 July 1998
c/o genetiX snowballOne World Centre6 Mount Street Manchester