At Norwich Magistrates Court today (20th September 1999), twenty eight Greenpeace volunteers who took action to stop a GM maize crop in Norfolk from irreversibly polluting the environment were committed to trial by jury. The trial will take place at Norwich Crown Court.
The twenty eight volunteers have pleaded 'not guilty' to charges of theft and criminal damage that were brought against them for taking non-violent direct action at Lyng in Norfolk, on July 26th 1999, against a farm-scale 'trial' of GM maize, conducted by agrochemical company AgrEvo.Speaking from the court, Greenpeace campaign director, Sarah Burton, said: "All the defendants are looking forward to putting their case before a jury. Because no-one has been consulted about these 'trials', the jury will be the first members of the public to judge whether or not the Government has the right to pollute the environment with GMOs."
GM organisms are a form of 'living pollution'. The effects they will have when released into the environment are unknown and unpredictable, yet they can self-replicate and the potential damage they could cause would be irreversible.
Neither the Government nor AgrEvo have a mandate to wilfully contaminate the environment and jeopardise organic and GM free agriculture in the UK. In the court of public opinion, GM food and crops have been found guilty and sentenced to oblivion, added Burton.
The Swiss Government recently banned farm-scale experiments of the same GM maize that was growing at Lyng because ministers were concerned that GM pollen would contaminate neighbouring non-GM crops.
Due to consumer reaction against GM food and crops, the GM industry is on the defensive. This month, the Deutsche Bank released a report that advised its investors to sell their shares in the GM industry as "GMOs are dead".
Notes to Editors:
A Nottinghamshire farmer, David Rose, pulled out of growing a GM farm-scale experiment of AgrEvo winter oil seed rape this month in response to opposition from local people who were concerned that the GM crop would contaminate farms, gardens and locally produced honey.
The Government admitted on Friday 17 th September that it had acted unlawfully by allowing AgrEvo to plant three further farm-scale experiments of GM winter oil seed rape this month. AgrEvo has permission to plant 12,500 acres of GM crops in the UK next spring.
The next hearing will be a pre-trial hearing on 15 November at Norwich Crown Court.
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Contact:
Greenpeace press office on: 020 7865 8255
