Here are parts 1 & 2 of our review of the GM issue in the UK in 2004.

"...we have a good deal to celebrate. The GM industry has effectively pulled out of the UK, and there is now not a single GM variety in the seed listing pipeline. We have seen a quite extraordinary demonstration of people power..." - Dr Brian John

[for more REVIEWS OF THE YEAR, incl. Japan, France and Australia, see: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive.asp ]

1. PEOPLE POWER AND THE POLITICS OF THE MAD-HOUSE - Dr Brian John of GM-free Cymru
2. My 17 highlights of the year - Jean Saunders of GM-ACT
------

1. 2004: PEOPLE POWER AND THE POLITICS OF THE MAD-HOUSE

It's been an interesting year for those of us who are seeking to prevent a plague of GM foods and crops from infecting the UK. For a start, we have a good deal to celebrate. The GM industry has effectively pulled out of the UK, and there is now not a single GM variety in the seed listing pipeline. We have seen a quite extraordinary demonstration of people power, with a host of NGOs, consumer organizations and special interest groups taking on -- and defeating -- the GM multinationals, the British government and a GM propaganda industry which is well resourced and which knows all about media manipulation and spinning techniques. David has taken on Goliath and knocked the giant over, although it remains to be seen whether the said giant has any life left in his battered body.

Those of us who belong to small anti-GM organizations should -- if we have not done it already -- give a massive vote of thanks (and some financial support) to GM WATCH for the manner in which it has kept us informed, week after week, of the main GM stories and the main issues demanding attention -- and for exposing the corruption which lies at the heart of the GM enterprise. WEEKLY WATCH is essential reading for all of us who do not have the time to scour the literature and the web for GM-related news items, and the GM WATCH website (including "The Biotech Brigade") is to my mind the single most influential item in our campaigning armoury. Together with Lobbywatch.org it gives us a fresh and accurate insight into the reasons for the decline and fall of GM corporations and GM science. We have always suspected it, but now we know that the GM enterprise is corrupt from top to bottom. It is based upon dodgy science conducted by scientists whose activities are orchestrated and controlled, and who are "discouraged" from publishing anything which might be inconvenient to the multinationals who pay them. These same multinationals increasingly control the means of communication. Research which might throw up uncomfortable results is carefully avoided. Scientists who do have concerns about the safety and stability of GM crops are marginalised, vilified and victimised, as Arpad Pusztai, Terje Traavik and Ignacio Chapela know only too well. Among their assailants are "phantom scientists" like Mary Murphy and Andura Smetacek, who are permanently hidden away from view within the offices of shadowy PR organizations like the Bivings Group and various fake persuaders and lobby groups. There are probably some honest GM scientists around, but they do not have a hope in Hell of winning the sympathy or support of the British public so long as they keep company with people who properly belong in a rogue's gallery of cheats, liars and media manipulators.

Perhaps we should not be too surprised by the revelations about the thuggish and counter-productive working methods of the GM multinationals and their allies, but I am personally amazed that the Blair government has persisted, right through the past year, with its mad campaign to spread GM crops across the British countryside and to ram GM foods down the throats of the people of this country. What on earth can lie behind this strange obsession? We know that our beloved leader chooses his advisers carefully and listens only to those who extoll the virtues of biotechnology and who claim that GM crops and foods are essentially harmless. We also assume that Tony Blair has made a deal with George Bush to "facilitate" the large-scale import of GM foods into Europe and to provide support, off the record, for the GM case being brought by the USA, Argentina and Canada through the WTO against the EU. International diplomacy is as mysterious as it is dirty. But it is intriguing, to say the least, that the PM appears not to hear what the British public has been saying to him very loudly for the last six years -- that they are not convinced about the safety of GM crops and foods, and that they want nothing to do with them. They wonder how many times they have to say "No!" before the Prime Minister understands what they mean. Consumer organizations, the popular media, opinion polls, focus groups and assorted strange consultation exercises have all shown that there is great and continuing antipathy towards GM, and farmers, supermarkets and food manufacturers have all responded to the pressure to keep Britain essentially GM-free. But not the PM. Our Tony, supported by the likes of Sir John Krebs, Lord May and Lord Sainsbury, insists that he and his cronies are right and that everybody else is wrong.

In the promotion of the PM's pro-GM agenda, the farm-scale trials were rigged in order to demonstrate that GM crops are less damaging to the environment than non-GM equivalents. The Government was genuinely taken aback by the results of the sugar beet and oilseed rape trials, but derived a crumb of comfort from the GM maize trials -- in spite of the fact that they too were seriously flawed and used management regimes that would never be replicated in the real world. The Environmental Audit Committee said as much, and was roundly condemned by the Government for its troubles. Margaret Beckett announced in March 2004 that GM maize plantings were to be allowed, in spite of the fact that Chardon LL was already known to be a failure, and in spite of the fact that the Welsh Assembly was refusing to add the variety to the Seeds Register. Bayer then bowed to the inevitable by withdrawing its applications for Chardon LL. Still the Government persisted with its pro-GM campaign, working against many other EU counties to reduce GM labelling requirements and to block other moves designed to control GM releases in to the environment and into the food chain. With John Krebs safely reappointed as Chairman of the FSA the Government knew that the "GM-no harm" message would be trumpeted at every opportunity; and with Bob May at the head of the Royal Society it knew that the GM scientists would be given free rein to trumpet the virtues of the technology. With ACRE, SCIMAC, ACNFP and other key committees all dominated by GM industry placements, it assumed that the public would eventually be bludgeoned into accepting that GM crops and foods should be welcomed by all rational people; but it assumed wrongly, for those committees were shown over and again to be complacent, biased and even incompetent. In fact during the year they contributed, in no small measure, to the inexorable decline of public confidence in science generally, by showing that they have no regard for the public good.

The only Committee that did show some awareness of safety doubts and public concerns, Prof Malcolm Grant's AEBC, proved itself to be so independent and so hard-working that it made Margaret Beckett increasingly irate, and as a reward for its service to the public it is to be wound up, in a fit of pique, before it can do any more damage to Mr Blair's great GM project.

In other areas too, the Government has been involved in extraordinary convolutions while trying to keep its GM balls in the air. It was involved in a despicable Parliamentary campaign to kill off Gregory Barker's Liability Bill, with DEFRA showing a singular lack of commitment to putting anything better in its place. Massive pressure has been put on the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament to accept the Westminster view of (for example) GM Free Zones, in spite of the fact that those two bodies are "competent authorities" in their own right. On the matter of GM coexistence, DEFRA knows full well that it is impossible, but persists with an absurd consultation exercise which will waste huge sums of public money and waste the time of thousands of individuals who have much better things to do. Sir Humphrey would have been proud if he himself could have dreamt up this elaborate exercise in "enabling" the planting of GM crops which do not exist, in secret locations, for a group of imaginary GM farmers, against the wishes of the public, and for which there is in any case no market. That is mad enough, you might have thought, but there is apparently no end to this insanity, since GM crops are in any case unstable and therefore illegal under EU law, since regulatory and testing regimes are shambolic, and since evidence is tumbling in from all over the world that GM crops do not reduce agrichemical use, are damaging to the environment, and induce potentially harmful physiological effects when they are ingested.

Why on earth, one might ask, would any person with a functioning brain want anything to do with GM crops or foods, which bring no benefits whatsoever to the consumer or to the environment? The answer, of course, is that Monsanto, Novartis, Syngenta and the other GM multinationals have invested so hugely in GM technology that they cannot afford to walk away from it. And as long as they persist with
it, and as long as they continue to exercise control within the US administration, the WTO case against the EU will continue and our Prime Minister will continue to play his devious part in promoting GM technology. But no company can continue to suffer from public abuse, trading losses and falling share prices for too long, and Monsanto's shareholders, for example, have already started to question the company’s policy of employing bully-boy tactics and promoting GM products in the face of massive global opposition. Monsanto, and the other companies, will back off eventually, when shareholder investment dries up and when directors perceive that they need public goodwill and that greater financial opportunities lie in other fields.

Until that day is reached, the American obsession with GM crops and foods will continue, and we will have to cope with a British government that scuttles around doing the bidding of President Bush, promoting lousy science and acting directly against the wishes, and the best interests, of the British public. Mr Blair assumed, four years ago, that we would soon become tired of anti-GM campaigning and that we would simply have to accept GM crops in our fields and GM foods in our larders. He profoundly misunderstands the resolve of the British public and the commitment and skill of thousands of anti-GM campaigners, just as he profoundly misunderstands the unique threats posed by GM technology.

So hang in there, folks, and maintain a state of high alert. The battle is almost won -- and a Happy GM Free New Year to everybody!

Brian John
GM Free Cymru
------

2. Jean Saunders of GM-ACT picks out 17 highlights of 2004

The year was unprecedented in that there were only two GM crop trials in the UK compared to hundreds in previous years whilst all attempts to enter GM seed varieties on the National List were abandoned, including the infamous GM maize variety Chardon LL. The publication of the results of the farmscale trials of winter sown oil seed rape were delayed further and the year ended with the news that the Government's GM scrutiny body is to be abolished.

Here are some of the highlights of the year in roughly chronological order (more detail below)

1. GMO Bill
2. ACRE recommends growing GMHT maize - ministers agree - hostility follows!
3. Councillor plans to halt GM maize
4. GM giant culls top jobs in Europe - Rylott sacked
5. Liberty Link Rice
6. Cows Dance on Sainsbury's Roof to launch National actions against GM animal feed.
7. Local authorities pass GM free resolutions
8. Bayer bins Chardon LL
9 No GM seed varieties proposed for UK national List
10. Jeffrey Smith tour
11. Syngenta to move its labs to US
12. Krebs to stand down to cries of good riddance
13. Co-existence debate launched
14. Scarecrows Lobby Parliament to Keep Fields GM-free
15. Campaign to clear the decks of GM food
16. GM-free businesses launched
17. Government to abolish AEBC
...
1. GMO Bill

The New Year kicked off with a focus on the Genetically Modified Organisms (Contamination and Liability) Bill that was taken up by Gregory Barker, MP for Bexhill and Battle in early January. FoE produced a briefing on why the GMO Bill was needed at
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/gm_liability_bill_now.pdf

MPs battle to win GM debate
The Argus [Brighton and Hove], 19 March
http://www.thisisbrightonandhove.co.uk/brighton__hove/archive/2004/03/19/BUSINESS3ZM.html

The second reading of the bill was supposed to take place in Parliament on 26th March but it was brought forward in the day and then scuppered by Labour's Andrew Dismore (Hendon) who requested that the House sit in private, prompting a division. As only 23 MPs voted [most hadn't arrived for the session and many Labour MPs abstained from voting], the business was left over until the next meeting - essentially this meant that there would be no time for the second reading of the GM Bill. This provoked outrage and media coverage:

The MP proposing the bill said afterwards, "Labour MPs and ministers have conspired to prevent the House of Commons even debating the matter. My Bill... was a common-sense approach to any new technology that carries risks as well as benefits. However, even such a sensible measure was clearly too much for the Labour Government."
http://www.fwi.co.uk/article.asp?con=14222&sec=18&hier=2

Commons Fury as GM Rules Bill Blocked
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2701435

2. ACRE recommends growing GMHT maize - ministers agree - hostility follows!

On 13 January ACRE published its recommendations after considering the results of the farmscale trials. As expected the way was opened to grow GMHT maize commercially whilst "there may be viable mitigation measures that could be used by farmers to offset any adverse effects" with regard to spring rape and beet!

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/acre/advice/pdf/acre_advice44.pdf.

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee disagreed and produced their report that said that the official trial of GM maize, which ministers are using to justify the go-ahead, is invalid and should be repeated. They want lessons to be learnt from North America, where genes from modified crops have contaminated organic and conventional produce.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmenvaud.htm

There was stacks of media coverage on all this for months! Here's just a small sample

GM crops to hit wildlife, says advisory body
http://www.foodnavigator.com/news/news-NG.asp?id=49029

British report gives mixed verdict on GM crops
http://www.terradaily.com/2004/040113182808.bbz2xm2b.html

GM experts cautious on maize crop, BBC News, UK
A team of UK Government advisers has given no clear direction to ministers whether to commercialise GM crops.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3391431.stm

Both sides claim success on GM
http://test.thecourier.co.uk/output/2004/01/14/newsstory5526619t0.asp

UK govt adviser fails to advance GM crops debate
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N2W199390.htm

UK on brink of growing first GM crops
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994560

Fury of protesters as GM farming gets closer, e Mirror, UK
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/content_objectid=13814383_method=full_siteid=50143_headline=-AMAIZED-name_page.html

Green light for transgenic crop
http://www.naturecom/nsu/040112/040112-6.html

GM Maize Trials Show No Adverse Impact
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/23428/story.htm

First commercial GM crop may be planted in spring after advisers give qualified approval
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=481043

GREEN LIGHT FOR GM CROPS
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-12971993,00.html

GM crops roll-out is blighted as MPs prepare to challenge No 10
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=496238

UK scientists back GM maize crops
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3532973.stm

No 10 to approve GM crop growing
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=257162004

GM: the closer it gets, the louder the protests
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=498685

Government announces GM decision
www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page5493.asp

3. Councillor plans to halt GM maize
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3518594.stm
BBC News 17 March, 2004

A councillor in Yorkshire tried a novel way to ruin government plans to grow GM maize. John Clark, a Liberal on Ryedale District Council, supplied organic maize for people to grow at home. They would then have to be consulted about any GM maize being planned for the area, to avoid cross-contamination.

Hundreds of people grew their own organic sweetcorn this year as a result of the initiative.

4. GM giant culls top jobs in Europe - Rylott sacked
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=496178
29 February
extract

"Bayer CropScience is parting company with the bosses of its GM programmes throughout Europe, in a move which is bound to be seen as an acknowledgement that it sees little future for the technology in Europe.

Among those made redundant is Dr Paul Rylott, Bayer's UK head of bioscience, who has become the public face of the GM industry in Britain. The news comes just as the Government is about to approve the planting of GM maize, produced by the company in Britain - marking Dr Rylott's greatest triumph. He will leave within the next month and has yet to find new employment.

A spokesman in the UK confirmed that all the heads of bioscience in European countries are to go."

5. Liberty Link Rice

The original dossier to place this GMO on the European market was sent to the United Kingdom for assessment. ACRE could see no reason why LL Rice should not be approved. The UK's assessment report can be downloaded at:
http://gmoinfo.jrc.it/csnifs/C-GB-03-M5-3_%20AssessmentReport.pdf

There has been no decision at EU level to market this GMO.

6. Cows Dance on Sainsbury's Roof to launch National actions against GM animal feed.

Across the country on 28 Jan seven different Sainsbury's supermarkets, disgruntled shoppers and bandit labellers took to the aisles to protest against the company's ongoing use of GM to feed the cows that produce their dairy products. Local grassroots groups linked by GEN (The Genetic Engineering Network) organized the event, and more protests are promised across the country in the next few weeks. In Exeter, Sherbourne, Taunton, Coventry, Bracknell, Wales, Plymouth and London shoppers were leafleted and GM fed dairy products labelled.

http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=101955&command=displayContent&sourceNode=99871&contentPK=9042764
POLICE EVICT PROTESTERS IN GM DEMO

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=103354&command=displayContent&sourceNode=103331&contentPK=9033817
SUPERMARKET TARGETED BY ANTI-GM PROTESTERS

and the campaign continued throughout the year and with a focus on milk:

GM protesters invade Sainsbury's HQ, 17 May
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=512206§ion=news

GM-free milk is cream of the crop
http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.couk/news/regionalnews/tm_objectid=14587826&method=full&siteid=50142&headline=gm-free-milk-is-cream-of-the-crop-name_page.html

The blockades continued!

Anti-GM protesters target Sainsbury depot
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/3703334.stm
BBC News, 30 September

7. Local authorities pass GM free resolutions

Loads [not sure of the current number but map available at www.gmfreebritain.com] of local authorities including the entire South West region have now signed up to the GM-free pledge making it more difficult to find markets for GM crops and land where it might be grown.

8. Bayer bins Chardon LL

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1079420034866
Beckett is blamed as Bayer bins GM plan, March 30

Bayer Cropscience is giving up attempts to commercialise GM maize - the only transgenic plant to have approval for widespread cultivation. Bayer said that the seed variety Chardon LL has been left "economically non-viable" because of conditions Margaret Beckett, environment secretary, imposed when she gave it limited approval this month.

9 No seed varieties proposed for UK national List

In November, Bayer also binned its attempt to list oil seed rape varieties on the UK National List of seeds. This means that in the UK there are now no applications to enter any GM seeds on the national list. However at an EU level several varieties of Bt maize were entered into the Common Catalogue that allows any potential GM grower in Europe to grow the variety.

10. Jeffrey Smith tour

Jeffrey Smith's book 'Seeds of Deception' was published in the UK and there was a tour to promote the book around the country around May. Jeffery talked about the health dangers of GM foods and the cover-up stories. Starting with the GM-Free Cymru celebration at Mathry, on to the Welsh Assembly, followed by his Scotland visit, then his London meeting with both Michael Meacher and Zac Goldsmith on the platform, and to the South-West where GM-free policies have long had strong support. It came to a close with the meeting held in Norwich. Jeffrey went to Ireland in July and then back to London for more promotion of the campaign.

His worldwide campaigning is incredible - this was his 108th city, in 15 countries, on 5 continents, during the last 8 months.

11. Syngenta to move its labs to US

"The whole industry understands Syngenta's decision. The UK is a difficult place to work." - Julian Little, a spokesman for the biotech industry lobby group Agriculture and Biotechnology Council.

Syngenta was the last biotech company to retain a significant GM research presence in the UK after decisions by Monsanto, Dupont and Bayer Cropscience to withdraw.

"Anyone who isn't about to retire will leave the country. We are all feeling, 'what the hell is the point?'" - Michael Wilson, self-proclaimed biotech evangelist

"This decision shows the biotech industry misjudged the market in the UK and Europe. Rather than retreat to the US, they should rethink the products they offer sustainable agriculture." - Pete Riley of Friends of the Earth

Syngenta to move its labs to US
Financial Times, June 30
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1087373383411

Firm shuts British project on GM crops
The Daily Telegraph, 1 July
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/07/01/ngm01.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/07/01/ixhome.html

12. Krebs to stand down to cries of good riddance

Sir John Krebs to stand down (15 July, 2004) http://www.foodstandards.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2004/jul/krebsdown

Food Standards Agency Chair Sir John Krebs has told the Agency's Board of his resignation. This move follows the announcement by Jesus College Oxford that he will take up the post of Principal in October 2005. Sir John will remain as FSA Chair until April 2005.

Krebs has been a long supporter of GMOs and has rubbished organic foods at every opportunity.

13. Co-existence debate launched

The Co-existence debate was launched in the UK along with pro-biotechnology researchers misrepresent findings of organic farmers' survey to support dubious premise that GM and organic crops successfully coexist in the United States [PG Economics Report].

On 16 July the Government announced plans for its coexistence consultation. DEFRA wasn't confident of its position on the issues of 'coexistence', liability and GM free zones. A 'pre-consultation' of meetings between DEFRA and specific stakeholders was held to inform its position. The final paper expected in the autumn still hasn't gone out to public consultation. It seems that the Government is preparing to allow routine contamination at low levels (below 0.9%) in non-GM crops. More information here http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/gm/crops/index.htm#Coexistence

PG Economics' report was even made publicly available by the Strategy Unit in tandem with its own report. The level of bias revealed [PG Economics promote themselves as "independent and objective consultants" and are frequently quoted as experts on the economics of GM crop cultivation] was par for the course. PG Economics were, for instance, commissioned to provide a report on the impact of GM crops on UK farm profitability by the UK Prime Minister's Strategy Unit to assist its analysis of the impact of GM crops on the UK for its report "Field work: weighing up the costs and benefits of GM crops". http://agrifor.ac.uk/browse/cabi/51fa0266cf12af4379ffa8dbe06e614d.html

Biotech, organic coexistence research paper skews facts to support dubious conclusion
http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?RecID=2657

14. Scarecrows Lobby Parliament to Keep Fields GM-free (July 21, 2004)
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/scarecrows_lobby_parliamen_20072004.html

Nearly two-thirds of the British population support tough new laws to prevent GM crops contaminating our food and farming, a new NOP World survey for Friends of the Earth reveals today. The poll
results are published as scarecrows descend on Parliament to meet with supportive MPs and lobby the Government to protect the countryside and keep their fields GM-free.

15. Campaign to clear the decks of GM food

There are still a few GM-labelled products on supermarket shelves which, with a bit of effort, we should be able to get rid of. Can you help?

All you need to do is buy the offending items, then return them, demanding a refund, stating the reason for returning the product as its GM content with your own personal comments for not wanting to eat GM food, and why you think the supermarket shouldn't be stocking it. If hundreds of people do this, it will certainly have an impact.

GM-labelled foods spotted so far:
1. Bacos (Betty Crocker) - Dried bacon flavoured soya chips.
Found in: Sainsbury's, Tesco, Safeway, Budgens, Morrisons
2. Easy Colour spray (Supercook) - Food colouring, available in red, blue, yellow, green....etc
Found in: Sainsbury's, Somerfield, Safeway
3. Taiko Vegetarian Sushi with Pickled Vegetables.
Found in: Waitrose
4. Schwartz Salad Topping Bacon Flavour Bits
Found in: Sainsbury's, Tesco, Morrisons, Safeway, Co-op
5. Orville Redenbacher's Popcorn cakes, caramel flavour
Found in: Tesco

16. GM-free businesses launched

FoE launched a new phase in the GM-free Britain campaign in September - GM-free businesses. A new action guide has been produced full of ideas on how to get support for the GM-free Britain campaign from local businesses.

17. Government to abolish AEBC

The year ended with news that government plan to abolish the AEBC

The Guardian, 29 December
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,9061,1380456,00.html
Minister to abolish GM scrutiny body
Champion of consumer choice falls victim to rift

extract:
The environment secretary, Margaret Beckett, is to scrap an advisory committee after it repeatedly placed obstacles in the way of government plans to introduce genetically modified crops.

The commission established by the government to monitor ethical and social issues linked to GM crops is to be disbanded after its members insisted that conventional and organic farmers should be protected from contamination by GM crops - and be compensated if safeguards fail.

With the results of the latest GM trials due in February, Mrs Beckett, already known to be hostile to the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission, is expected to announce its demise early next month, before it can cause further difficulties.