Support for suppressed GM Scientist12 February 1999
Following the growing scandal of Dr Arpad Pusztai's dismissal from the Rowett Institute last year, mounting evidence of political interference at the highest levels to promote genetically modified (GM) foods, and deepening public concern over the safety of GM food, Friends of the Earth Director Charles Secrett has written a letter to the Prime Minister Tony Blair calling on him to take urgent steps to address the situation.
Secrett has called for:
- a full public inquiry into the circumstances of Dr Pusztai's forced dismissal in August 1998 from the Rowett Institute, which included denying him access to his own team's research findings and a prohibition on his speaking publicly about this work
- Mr. Blair to use his influence to ensure that the still-standing prohibition which prevents Dr Pusztai from speaking freely on this issue is lifted in the public interest
- immediately introduce a minimum five-year moratorium on the commercial growing, testing for commercial purposes and sale of GM foods and animal feeds in the UK;
- instruct the UK delegation at the United Nations Biosafety Protocol negotiations in Colombia to ensure that the Protocol guarantees strong statutory safeguards to protect the environment and human health from GM organisms and allows individual nations to ban such organisms and any products derived from them
- issue an unequivocal public statement about the substance of all discussions and correspondence in 1998 between the Prime Minister and President Clinton on genetic engineering, genetically modified foods and products, and companies involved in this industry.
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