WESSEX
WESSEX
What YOU can do!
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY (Thanks to Ron Baxter for the information on this page issued Jan 2000)
Major UK supermarket email addresses and freephone nos at bottom of page - plus sample letter format
GM ACTION 2000
Dear fellow campaigners,
Now that we have entered the new millennium, lets step up our
actions and get rid of GM food and crops once and for all. These
products are remnants of the last century and are now obsolete.
Here are some useful campaign ideas, most of which originally
appeared in Genetix Update,
All success for 2000
Ron Baxter
Lancashire,
UK
"SO YOU WANNA STOP THE GENETIC
EXPERIMENT?"
(Edited and revised)
This is a call for everyone everywhere who is concerned about
genetic engineering to take action, express their views and
create the alternative. Below is a smattering of tried
and tested ideas:
10 MINUTE ACTIVISM....because even
busy people can help save the world.Some of the most important
ongoing stuff that needs doing in this campaign can be done
quickly in concentrated bursts
SPREAD THE WORD!. If you aren't
already doing so, pass on any important e-mails that you receive
to friends, family, and anti-GM campaign groups in your area. If
a particular individual or group isn't on e-mail, then send the
info by fax or post instead.
WRITE LETTERS on the dangers of GM
foods and send them to the Letters Page of health magazines and
local newspapers. Include your e-mail and fax address in these
letters and encourage readers to contact you for more info on how
to avoid GM foods (and add them to your e-mail list for regular
updates). When replying to readers queries, include the address
of a few useful anti-GM websites, such as "GM Foods
and How to Avoid Them" at - http://wkweb4.cableinet.co.uk/pbrown/index.htm.
(Mainly UK products are listed on this site, plus general info
and useful advice.)
WRITING WORKS. Write to food
producers and supermarkets. Use a word processor to set up a
standard letter that can be mailed to all the companies you wish
to contact. Or contact Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth etc -
most environmental and consumer organisations can supply sample
letters and GM info packs on request.
KEEP WRITING to food companies
and supermarket directors until you obtain a satisfactory
response. Persistence definitely pays!
HOLD MANAGERS PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE.
Write to supermarket managers and the directors of food
companies, and let them know that you will hold them personally
liable should you suffer psychological or health damage due to
consuming GM ingredients in their food products (many scientists
say it's just a matter of time before such health problems
materialise). Be polite, of course.
ORDER LEAFLETS and posters on the
dangers of GM foods from Greenpeace and FoE etc and pop these
into wholefood shops, organic restaurants, art centres and
libraries; and put leaflets up on billboards etc.
CALL FOOD COMPANY CARELINES (Freephone
numbers are usually on the packet). On the whole Careline
operators are given standard answers that they don't really
believe. Demand an explanation in writing as to why the company
will not guarantee you safe, GM-free food (unlike Iceland, the
wholefood trade, etc). Pass their responses on to Greenpeace,
etc.
IDEAS. Pitch advertising ideas to
the Chief Executives of food companies, ie. put forward TV
advertising campaign ideas based on the brand going GM-free.
THINGS TO DO AT SUPERMARKETS (including
UK supermarkets, such as Safeway and Tesco - both of whom still
sell thousands of own-brand products which contain GM
ingredients/derivatives/enzymes. (See bottom of page for Safeway
and Tesco's e-mail addresses, plus a sample letter to send to
them).
TROLLEY RUNS. - Fill up trolleys
(shopping carts) with goods containing soya and maize. Bring all
trolleys to check-outs; go through all items with check-out
assistant and demand a GM-free guarantee. Be polite. Demand to
see manager. Leaflet shoppers in the queue to explain hold up.
TROLLEY STOPS. - Again fill trolleys
with GM food. Put "genetic contamination" sign on
trolleys then leave around store.
STICKERING. - Produce stickers and
posters with messages such as - "Contaminated By Genetically
Engineered Soya" - and stick them on products and shelves.
Redistribute contaminated brands around the store.
CREATE A BIOHAZARD ZONE. - Fill a
number of trolleys with contaminated goods. Take them all to one
part of the store and restock them on the same shelves to create
a "contaminated food aisle". Produce a leaflet/map
showing customers where contaminated zone is and which brands to
avoid.
WELCOME TO THE GENETIC EXPERIMENT. -
Mad scientists hand shoppers experiment cards with their own
experimental number as they enter store. Shoppers hand in an
attached slip to the supermarket if they object to being
experimented on.
NON-GM ADVICE: - Set up a customer
advice centre, providing lists of GM and non-GM goods. Offer to
check through shoppers purchases before they buy.
BANNER ACTION.
Drop an anti-GM banner somewhere like:
A church: ..."Don't play God with our food - Ban Genetically
Engineered Foods"
Council/Municipal Building: ...."Don't genetically
experiment with school meals."
Supermarkets ... "Stop selling GM food - Go
organic!"
Investment companies/pension funds etc that invest in biotech
companies ....
"Stop sponsoring the genetic manipulation of our food!"
Food Companies: ...."Stop genetically manipulating our
food!"
Field sites / experimental farms........Warning! Genetic
Contamination"
SAMPLE LETTER TO SEND TO FOOD
COMPANIES
To The Managing Director,
Safeway/ Tesco/ Marks & Spencer, etc
Dear Sir / Madam,
This is to let you know that I will no longer purchase any food,
drink or cosmetic product sold by your company which contains GM
ingredients, derivatives or enzymes.
There is sufficient scientific evidence to show that the genetic
modification of plants is intrinsically dangerous. It involves
making irreversible changes in a random manner to a complex level
of life about which little is known. Leading geneticists have
warned that this hit-or-miss approach must disrupt the natural
intelligence of the plant or animal to which it is applied,
leading to health-damaging side-effects and irreversible
environmental problems. Unless I receive confirmation that your
company intends to remove all GMingredients, derivatives and
enzymes from your products in the very near future, I shall have
no option but to boycott all of your products, and will encourage
my family, friends and local community to do likewise. This is
unfortunate as I have enjoyed being a customer of yours for many
years.
Meanwhile could you please send me a comprehensive list of your
own-label products which are affected by GM ingredients,
derivatives and enzymes.
And finally, the following quotation clearly illustrates
the threat to health from GM foods:-
"Genetic engineering bypasses conventional breeding by using
artificially constructed parasitic genetic elements, including
viruses, as vectors tocarry and smuggle genes into cells. Once
inside cells, these vectors slotthemselves into the host genome.
The insertion of foreign genes into thehost genome has long
been known to have many harmful and fatal effects
including cancer of the organism." - Dr Mae
Wan-Ho, geneticist, and scientific adviser to the Third
World Network.
Yours sincerely
- - - - - - - - - - - - (your name
- - - - - - - - - - - - - and address)
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUPERMARKET E-MAIL ADDRESSES
(UK)
PLEASE E-MAIL THESE SUPERMARKETS USING THE SAMPLE LETTER ABOVE AS
A GUIDE (If you don't have time to write, call the Freephone
numbers listed)
(Beware of "GM-free" assurances over the phone. Always
get it in writing)
Tesco: e-mail: customer.services@tesco.co.uk
Or call Freephone 0800 50 5555.
(We are now into a new millennium, yet thousands of Tesco
products are still affected by GM
ingredients/derivatives/enzymes!!
Asda:
- Paula.Higby@asda.co.uk
Freephone 0500 1000 55
(Thousands of Asda products still affected by GM
ingredients/derivatives/enzymes) Plus, GM animal feed still used
to produce Asda brand milk, butter, meat, poultry etc).
Safeway:
- feedback@safeway.co.uk
Tel: 0181 848 8744
Thousands of Safeway products still affected by GM
ingredients/derivatives/enzymes. Plus, GM animal feed still used
to produce Safeway brand milk, butter, meat, poultry etc).
Sainsbury: - feedback@sainsburys.co.uk
Freephone 0500 301010
Thousands of Sainsbury products are still affected by GM enzymes.
Plus, GM
animal feed still used to produce Sainsbury brand milk, butter,
meat, poultry
etc).
Waitrose: - customer_service@waitrose.co.uk
(Ditto)
M&S: - customer.services@marks-and-spencer.co.uk
Freephone [no longer freephone - 020 7268 1234 - June 2002]
4367
(Virtually every single M&S product is produced using GM
enzymes - which many
scientists say is a severe risk to health. And GM cotton is still
being used
to produce most St Michael brand cotton clothing).
Co-op: - customer.relations@co-op.co.uk
Freephone 0800 317827
(Most Co-op products are still affected by GM enzymes. And GM
animal feed
still being used to produce co-op dairy, poultry and meat
products)
"Swapping genes between organisms
can produce unknown toxic effects and allergies that are most
likely to affect children"
Dr Vyvyan Howard: expert in infant
toxico-pathology at Liverpool, University Hospital, UK. (Ref: The
Guardian: 19/3/98)