Greenpeace activists removing GM crop
Simon Hackin completed his testimony in the morning telling the prosecution
that he was aware that agrochemical companies had applied for licences to
grow GM crops in May 1999 and because of this he regarded the GM crops as
their property.
Owen Davies QC then called Malcolm Walker, Chairman of the Iceland Group
PLC, to the witness box. Walker had founded Iceland in 1970 and has been a
supporter of Greenpeace for nine years. In June 1997 he had become aware of
GM after he started receiving letters from customers which caused him to
discover that "virtually all the processed food we were eating contained GM
soya." He explained that this was not popular with his customers: "We banned
GM ingredients (in May 1998). I would not have done that if I didn't believe it
was the right thing to do - but also you saw it as a commercial opportunity."
Following this GM ban, Malcolm Walker said that Iceland had received
"overwhelmingly positive press coverage and customer reaction; and since
then we have increased our sales by 30 per cent."
Since this ban, Walker told the jury, other major food retailers and
manufacturers had followed their lead and Iceland "have now decided to move
on and turn organic." Iceland's frozen vegetables have all been organic since
spring 1999. Any organic produce that is imported from overseas is put
through tests by the Soil Association who certify that it reaches British organic
standards.<
The next witness was Emma Hargreaves, a defendant with a degree in
sociology, currently studying gardening at City & Guilds and she is a self-employed
gardener. Emma has been a supporter of Greenpeace for five years
and was an Area Networker from 1997 until 1999. She first became aware of
GM in 1996 and was involved in a Greenpeace action outside Unilever in
relation to the shipping in of GM soya without consumer awareness. She was
also involved in the True Food and Beanfeast campaigns and supermarket
tours.
Contrary to Judith Jordan's earlier evidence, Emma told the jury that in a
garden she works in in Wimbledon, there are five beehives and some small
plots of corn: the bees travel in and out of the corn and do not discriminate
between this and other plants, making the method of pollination more varied
than Ms Jordan had suggested.
The next defendant was Keith Dawson, who is currently working as a
maintenance person in a guest house in Lincolnshire and has been a supporter
of Greenpeace for six years. At the time of the action, he had been working in
an Internet-based record company as well as hiring out PA kits. When he
returned to Lincolnshire after the action he found he had lost both his jobs due
to his participation.
Asked whether he thought the action at Lyng was a publicity stunt, Keith told
the prosecution that he would not have attempted a publicity stunt in the
"middle of a field in rural Norfolk, away from the media and the bright lights".
His aim was to remove the GM contaminated crop from the field.
The last defendant of the morning was Michael Uwins, a volunteer with
Greenpeace for nine years, co-organiser of Friends of the Earth Norwich, and
Donated Gifts Organiser for Oxfam in Norwich. He had become aware of the
GM issue some years before and became increasingly concerned after reading
an article in the Eastern Daily Press newspaper about the John Innes report
commissioned by the Government which said that contamination from GM
crops was inevitable. He had then contacted his local MP, John MacGregor, and
had been to his surgery in May 1999. MacGregor had said that he would
contact the Environment Minister to ask what the Government's advice was
regarding the John Innes report, as well as land targets for organic farming.
Michael Uwins only received a reply from Nick Brown on 27 September 1999 -but
no contact before the events at Lyng.
After lunch Owen Davies QC called Stokely Webster to the witness box. A
researcher for Greenpeace since 1999, she has a BA in English and has done
research into French philosophy and environmental ethics. She researched and
had editorial control of the Greenpeace booklet "The True Cost of Food" about
the cost to the environment and society of industrial agriculture. There had
been more than one print run of this document, the first being tens of
thousands. She had also been a steering member in the Freeze campaign
which helped various organisations to articulate their concerns about the
environmental release of GMOs after first becoming aware of GM in the early
1990s in terms of patents on life forms.
She explained "It's not that you can have both. You can't have genetic
engineering and sustainable organic agriculture at the same time. You choose
one or the other."
Of the events at Lyng, Stokely said that she had wanted to be sure that this
would be a "genuine effective action", was convinced that it was the right field
since it had been tested for GM material, and was assured that the right
equipment and people had been organised so that the action could be
successfully completed. She told the jury that if this had been a publicity
stunt,"it would have been a more choreographed event" and there would have
been more than one member of the press there. At Walnut Tree Farm, Stokely
had pulled up the GM maize from the root and tried to detach all the maize
stalks to stop the potential spread of pollen. She said she had taken part
"because I believe all means all: democratic processes had been tried and
hadn't worked." She later told the prosecution that "It wasn't a 'Let's have a
go' sort of action - it was one that was well thought out."
Simon Bowens was the last defendant of the day to testify. A Leeds-based
financial administrator for an electrical engineering contractor, he has a BSc in
maths, is a qualified teacher and is a member of the Chartered Institute of
Purchasing and Supply. He has been involved with Greenpeace since 1994 and
is Chair of his local Greenpeace group in Leeds. He had been a participating
organiser in local supermarket tours and the True Food campaign, getting
much of his information about GM issues from Internet sources and receiving
daily emails from the Genetic Engineering Network.
Simon told the jury that he felt public opinion was "wholeheartedly against GE".
His reaction to the announcement of the field-scale trials was "shock and horror
that this stuff would be released into the environment" and was determined to
stop this. On the day of the action, Simon bagged up the contaminated crop
and once the mower was disabled, he trampled down maize and would have
continued to do this if he hadn't been stopped. Simon told the jury that by 26
July 1999, "The only course of action was a non-violent direct action."
The trial continues tomorrow.
