06/09/04 DEFRA Consultation information - Click here
25/08/04 After a summer of quiet it is as we predicted. A calm before the storm. The government wants GM. It is preparing the ground (sorry!)
11/08/04 DEFRA has announced the groups it will be contacting on coexistence (visit http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/gm/crops/coexist1.htm).
No gardeners, No allotment holders, etc. I (John Clark) have been invited under the Small Farms Association banner for the "Regulatory burden on farmers. No coexistence - I will raise it nevertheless. No Separation Distances - I will raise this nevertheless.
They don't seem to have realised.
The public don't want GM.
If we grow non-GM sweet corn we don't want to eat GM sweet corn.
This is not a battle between farmers and environmentalists. The public do not want GM.
30/03/04 Bayer decides not to go ahead with Chardon LL. Although this may be a small victory Bayer and the biotech companies have not gone away. The Maize Plant Campaign is just as important, it still needs growing.
“The National Farmers Union is demanding greater protection for farmers who grow GM crops. (Times 16/3/04) Tim Bennett, the president of the NFU is to urge ministers to keep secret the location of farms where GM maize is grown”
Then only three days later (Farmers Guardian 19/3/04) “Mrs Beckett indicated the government was not planning to publish grid references of commercial plantings”
One of the reasons for the abolition of MAFF and its replacement with DEFRA was to break the link between Agribusinesses and the government. “From the above the link appears to be alive and well” John Clark 20/3/04
How can an individual maize grower, (you or me) know if their crop likely to become contaminated?
How does DEFRA intend to measure the separation distances if they don’t know the other maize growers?
How can DEFRA find the other growers if DEFRA doesn’t publish the proposed GM site?
Why the secrecy? IF GM maize is OK, why not be open and transparent?