GM Watch
  • Main Menu
    • Home
    • News
      • Newsletter subscription
      • Daily Digest
      • News Reviews
      • News Languages
    • Articles
      • GM Myth Makers
      • GM Reports
      • GM Quotes
      • GM Myths
      • Non-GM successes
      • GM Firms
        • Monsanto: a history
        • Monsanto: resources
        • Bayer: a history
        • Bayer: resources
    • Videos
      • Latest Videos
      • Must see videos
      • Cornell videos
      • Agriculture videos
      • Labeling videos
      • Animals videos
      • Corporations videos
      • Corporate takeover videos
      • Contamination videos
      • Latin America videos
      • India videos
      • Asia videos
      • Food safety videos
      • Songs videos
      • Protests videos
      • Biofuel myths videos
      • Index of GM crops and foods
      • Index of speakers
      • Health Effects
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donations
    • How donations will help us
News and comment on genetically modified foods and their associated pesticides    
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Newsletter subscription
    • News Reviews
    • News Languages
      • Notícias em Português
      • Nieuws in het Nederlands
      • Nachrichten in Deutsch
    • Archive
      • 2021 articles
      • 2020 articles
      • 2019 articles
      • 2018 articles
      • 2017 articles
      • 2016 articles
      • 2015 articles
      • 2014 articles
      • 2013 articles
      • 2012 articles
      • 2011 articles
      • 2010 articles
      • 2009 articles
      • 2008 articles
      • 2007 articles
      • 2006 articles
      • 2005 articles
      • 2004 articles
      • 2003 articles
      • 2002 articles
      • 2001 articles
      • 2000 articles
  • Articles
    • GM Myth Makers
    • GM Reports
    • How donations will help us
    • GM Quotes
    • GM Myths
    • Non-GM successes
    • GM Firms
      • Monsanto: a history
      • Monsanto: resources
      • Bayer: a history
      • Bayer: resources
  • Videos
    • Index of speakers
    • Glyphosate Videos
    • Latest Videos
    • Must see videos
    • Health Effects
    • Cornell videos
    • Agriculture videos
    • Labeling videos
    • Animals videos
    • Corporations videos
    • Corporate takeover videos
    • Contamination videos
    • Latin America videos
    • India videos
    • Asia videos
    • Food safety videos
    • Songs videos
    • Protests videos
    • Biofuel myths videos
    • Index of GM crops and foods
  • Contact
  • About
  • Donations
SUBSCRIBE TO REVIEWS

GMWatch Facebook cornfield banner

SCIENCE SUPPORTS REGULATION OF GENE EDITING

Plant tissue cultures

GENE EDITING: UNEXPECTED OUTCOMES AND RISKS

Damaged DNA on fire

GENE-EDITED CROPS & FOODS

Help stop the new threat

News Menu

  • Latest News
  • News Reviews
  • Archive
  • Languages

Please support GMWatch

Donations

You can donate via Paypal or credit/debit card.

Some of you have opted to give a regular donation. This is greatly appreciated as it helps place us on a more stable financial basis. Thank you for your support!

2006 articles

Re: No threats made against farmer - police

  • Print
  • Email
Details
Published: 24 December 2006
Created: 24 December 2006
Last Updated: 22 October 2012
Twitter

GM WATCH COMMENT: Following the piece we posted recently from Farmers Weekly about the Derbyshire farmer who dropped out of a forthcoming UK GM potato trial, supposedly because of threats made against him, Tom Rigby of Farmers For a GM-Free Future has pointed out that the Farmers Guardian - another publication for UK farmers - has made it even clearer than Farmers Weekly that there have been no threats:

"Derbyshire Police said this week the farmer had made 'no specific complaints' about any threat but feared he may receive some if he went ahead with the trials. BASF said it had not pressurised the farmer to explain his decision further".

According to Farmers Weekly, the farmer's concerns were triggered by the intense publicity surrounding the trial.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7416

Tom comments:

"As far as I can see all that had changed between him signing up for the trial and his decision to withdraw was opposition from both the Potato Council and Derbyshire County Council."

In the light of the fact that we now know there were no threats of any kind made against the farmer, it's interesting to consider the coverage generated.

An article by The Guardian's science correspondent, Ian Sample, was headlined, "Farmer quits GM trial after phone threats." The origin of this "phone threats" claim is unclear. In the article it states only that, "He [the farmer] is believed to have received anonymous phone calls about his involvement in the trials."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,,1973379,00.html

But although the evidence for any threats has been directly contradicted by the police, and was clearly never more than hearsay from interested parties, a BBC News report told us:

"many scientists are angry and have criticised what they deem to be intimidation."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6185129.stm

On BBC Radio 4's Farming Today the condemnation of scientists was reported in some detail, with comparisons made to extreme animal rights protests. The BBC's rural affairs correspondent, Tom Heap, went on to discuss whether the "threats" meant that the location of trials would have to be kept secret in future.

An article widely circulated by pro-GM lists like CS Prakash's AgBioView waxed still more dramatic about the implications, saying the Derbyshire farmer's story showed reason, freedom and democracy were all under threat and calling for a robust response from the authorities:

"As with the criminal activity of antivivisection extremists (plenty of examples of which are already well known), it is essential that the Government and the police take a firm stand... If we are all free to damage property and intimidate people associated with things with which we disagree, we are living not in liberty but in anarchy. These actions undermine freedom in the name of irrational beliefs. Today's story is a defeat for reason and for freedom." http://www.truthabouttrade.org/article.asp?id=6742

What we're looking at here is not a one-off case of misreporting but a classic example of a recurrent public relations strategy, which we've detailed elsewhere, intended to demonise those opposed to GM crops as a means of undermining public sympathy and inhibiting protest.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7400

It would be nice, though, if journalists like the Guardian's science correspondent and the BBC's rural affairs correspondent bothered to check out the evidence before relaying biotech PR.

  • Prev
  • Next

Menu

Home

News

News Archive

News Reviews

Videos

Articles

GM Myth Makers

GM Reports

GM Myths

GM Quotes

How Donations Will Help Us

Contacts

Contact Us

About

Facebook

Twitter

RSS

Content 1999 - 2021 GMWatch.
Web Development By SCS Web Design