Oxford Friends of the Earth   Food Campaign
News

Events

Campaigns

Contacts

Join us

Links

Go GM-free in 2003, County Council urged

Monday 30 December 2002
Councillor Anne Purse (left) accepts the giant New Year cardOxford Friends of the Earth today called on Oxfordshire County Council to make Oxfordshire a GM-free county in 2003. A giant 'New Years' greeting card was presented to Councillor Anne Purse urging the County to go GM-free in 2003. 

Over one hundred people at the recent Green Fair signed the New Years card on Saturday 14 December in Oxford. The GM Free Britain campaign is part of a national initiative. Local groups are lobbying councils as District, County and Unitary authorities over the coming weeks and months across the country as part of Friends of the Earth's GM-Free Britain campaign. 

A visitor to the Green Fair signs the giant cardThe GM-Free Britain campaign comes at a crucial time in the GM debate. Over the next year or so the Government will decide whether to allow GM crops to be commercially grown across the UK. If it does it would lead to widespread GM contamination of our food, crops and environment, and remove peoples' right to say no to GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). 

Oxfordshire County Council can declare Oxfordshire a GM-Free zone. GM-free areas have already been declared in parts of Austria, Germany and the whole of Wales. And under new EU legislation [1] the Government can designate areas where GM crops cannot be grown if requested by a local authority. Oxford Friends of the Earth wants Oxfordshire County Council to declare the county a GM-Free zone [2], and take the following action; 

  • ensure that no GM crops are grown on land over which Oxfordshire County Council has control; 
  • adopt a GM-free policy for all goods and services for which the council is responsible, for example, ensuring that school caters provide GM-free food; 
  • write to the Government asking them not to allow any more GM crops to be grown in the county.
 Chrissy Allot, Food Campaigner for Oxford Friends of the Earth said: 
"This is a crucial time in the GM debate; it's now or never. The Government will shortly decide whether to allow GM crops to be commercially grown in the UK. If it does it will lead to widespread contamination of crops, food and the environment. If that happens, people will no longer be able to say no to GMOs. We want Oxfordshire County Council to make a stand against GM crops and food by declaring Oxfordshire a GM-free zone."
Councillor Purse studies the message in the cardRecent opinion polls have shown that most people are opposed to GM crops and food. A survey in the Grocer (20 September) found that 58% would avoid products containing GM ingredients. And an NOP poll for Friends of the Earth, published on the same day, revealed that 63 per cent of people that regularly bought honey wanted it to be GM-free. 
Notes 
[1] Article 19 of EU Deliberate Release Directive (2001/18) 

[2] A draft resolution for Oxfordshire County Council to declare itself a GM-free area is available from Oxford Friends of the Earth.