Newsletter
- Home >
- News & Events >
- News >
- Natural Resources news >
- Archive >
- 2003 >
- GM activists make a pilgrimage for a GM-free Britain
- 2003
- 10 reasons supermarket mergers are bad for consumers, farmers and small businesses
- Asda spinach over pesticide levels
- Asda/Wal-Mart exploits planning loophole
- Biting back at GM crops
- Blair sacks Meacher
- Committee Stage for Recycling Bill
- Cornwall goes GM-free
- Credibility of GM public debate hangs by a thread
- Cumbria goes GM-free
- Deplorable attack on GM scientific critic
- Devon votes to go GM-free
- Dorset demands caution over GM crops
- EU commission calls for GM contamination of organic food to be allowed
- EU meets US over GM trade war
- Farmers and consumers must have a say in Wal-Mart takeover
- Fat cats fight over Safeway, consumers and farmers are real losers
- Fat-cat Tesco: putting on the pounds at farmers' expense
- Garden pesticides health warning
- GM activists make a pilgrimage for a GM-free Britain
- GM activists make a pilgrimage for a GM-free Britain
- GM beet research answers very few questions
- GM contamination - Government experts disagree
- GM jury challenges FSA policy on labelling
- GM public debate fiasco
- GM study highlights need for urgent rethink over GM crops
- GM trade war - who decides what we eat?
- GM trade war accelerates
- GM won't cure hunger in Africa
- GM-free food could be "impossible"
- Government agrees to delay GM debate
- Government failing to regulate supermarkets, says new report
- Government launches GM debate
- Government may ignore public opinion on GM crops
- Government must address GM debate chaos say groups
- Government must clarify role of GM debate
- Government opposes tough Euro GM rules
- Government report on economics of GM crops
- Government to publish GM science review
- Government urges MEPs to vote for GM food
- Government warns GM farmers over contamination threat
- Hundreds of pesticides banned
- Hundreds turn out for Waste lobby
- Illegal GM contamination threat
- Is Tesco spin on Safeway takeover a joke?
- Lake District National Park first to go GM-free
- Lake District National Park to host GM debate
- Local campaigners call for GM-free Britain election pledge
- MEPs back tougher GM labels
- Ministers try to stop GM food labels
- Morrisons take-over bad news for consumers
- MPs call for extension to GM national debate
- New analysis casts doubt on GM farm scale evaluations
- New maps reveal massive extent of GM pollution threat
- Pesticide review fails consumers and farmers
- Recycling Bill clears the Commons
- Safeway decision must wait for code review
- Sainsbury's: making life taste bitter for banana growers
- Scepticism as GM debate ends
- Second reading for Recycling Bill
- Shameful EU plans for growing GM crops
- Shropshire goes gm-free
- Slow progress on pesticide residues
- Slow progress on pesticide residues
- South Gloucestershire votes to go GM-free
- South Hams votes to go GM-free
- Stop Safeway stitch-up, alliance demands
- Supermarket code fails farmers
- Supermarket code fails farmers
- Supermarkets continue to shun GM food
- Supermarkets must be blocked from Safeway takeover
- The US ghost fleet – behind the hype
- UK votes to keep highly toxic pesticide
- UN treaty regulating GM to become law
- Uncertainty over GM safety
- US files WTO GM complaint
- US threat over GM food
- Warwickshire goes GM-free
- Why the Safeway take-over must be stopped
GM activists make a pilgrimage for a GM-free Britain1 October 2003
Welsh pianos played all the way from St Davids, coffins towed from Inverness and cow-shaped trolleys spearheaded a festive parade against GM crops through London on Monday.
Many others traveled by foot, bike or tractor to join over a thousand consumers demanding their right to a GM-free Britain. The rally was organised by Friends of the Earth, GM-free Cymru, Genetic Engineering Network and the Five Year Freeze campaign.
Bedford Square, in the heart of Bloomsbury, was the starting point for the final push in a pilgrimage of - for some - well over 600 miles.
The parade was headed by five tractors, one of which was driven by Gerald Miles, an organic farmer who had driven all the way from Pembrokeshire. They were followed by 200 trolleys pushed by people from all over the country.
A few minutes before midday the march delivered a GM-free harvest loaf at the National Farmers Union (NFU).
It then negotiated Charing Cross Road and Trafalgar Square before its samba rhythms cheered up the morning of Whitehall civil servants. Number 10 had their own delivery half an hour later, as a gentle reminder of what the public (and the voters) think of GM crops.
I cannot see that the government could logically, consistently, or
morally go ahead [allowing GM crops to be grown]
Michael Meacher MP,
Former Minister for the Environment
The last free giveaway was awarded to the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), in the vicinity of Millbank. Neighbouring Marsham Street framed the final gathering of the protesters, who were addressed by speakers including former minister Michael Meacher, international campaigner Vandana Shiva and Friends of the Earth Executive Director Tony Juniper.
Clare Oxborrow, Friends of the Earth GM Campaigner, stressed that the British public had made its views clear on the issue. "Tony Blair must listen, and refuse to allow GM crops to be grown in the UK. This must not be the last GM-free harvest".
Get these updates first
If you would like these news updates to be emailed to you as soon as they come out, then join our real food mailing list.
Register Here
© Nick Cobbing/Friends of the Earth
Discuss "GM activists make a pilgrimage for a GM-free Britain" in our forum