Hammersmith and Fulham Friends of the Earth Real Food Campaign

It's time for Real Food. It's time to rethink our use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides that damage our health, and the wasteful transportation of produce across the world that contributes to climate change. Above all, it's time for a fair deal for consumers, producers and the environment.

Make a Difference!

Buy locally produced food

This helps support the economy of the local area and cuts down on the distance the produce needs to travel, thus reducing greenhouse gas pollution.

Eat in season

Large areas of land in developing countries are used to provide us with out-of-season produce. Farmers then have to buy the food they need, when they once grew it for free.

Cut down on meat consumption

Meat production consumes vast amounts of resources - 10,000 litres of water are needed to produce one kilogram of beef, compared with only 500 litres of water to produce the same weight of potatoes.

Hammersmith & Fulham Friends of the Earth is urging people in the Borough to support their local shops as part of a new campaign launched this August across the UK.

“There is growing concern that unless shopping habits change, independent shops will disappear. By switching our shopping habits, we can also help boost local economies and help the fight against climate change.”

Carolyn adds: "Local shops are a real asset to our community and I’m pleased with the encouraging response we’ve had from people in Hammersmith and Fulham so far. The power of the big supermarkets is squeezing small suppliers and shops and soon we could be left with little choice of where to do our shopping. “Supporting your local shops you can really help to keep the neighbourhood buzzing – and ensure you do have a choice. And if you walk to the shops and choose locally sourced food you’ll be making a much better environmental choice too.”

Small shops are struggling to survive due to the dominance of the big supermarkets:

Tesco now controls 30% of the grocery market in the UK. In 2006, the supermarket chain announced over £2.2 billion in profits. Growing evidence indicates that Tesco's success is partly based on trading practices that are having serious consequences for suppliers, farmers and workers worldwide, local shops and the environment.
read more

With your support, we're continuing to campaign tirelessly on climate change, but we can't ignore other threats to our environment.

Hammersmith and Fulham Friends of the Earth are asking for your help in keeping Britain GM-free.

The Government has just launched a public consultation on how genetically modified (GM) crops can be grown alongside non-GM crops in England. Their current plans would mean routine GM contamination of conventional and organic crops.

But we believe that rather than paving the way for biotech companies to grow their crops, the Government should be protecting our right to choose GM-free.

Please help us today by responding to this consultation. We have made it easy to do and you don't have to be a GM expert. Please click here to take action now.

Hammersmith and Fulham is one of just six London boroughs to be awarded Fair Trade Borough status by the Fairtrade Foundation. To mark the event, a Fair Trade Day was held in Lyric Square organised by the Local Agenda 21 and voluntary groups, including Hammersmith and Fulham Friends of the Earth. Lots of free Fair Trade chocolate and other goodies were on offer. The event also included live music from a local choir and drumming group, and a Fairtrade quiz. Hundreds of postcards were signed calling on the Government to bring in a Company Reform Law Bill, the biggest shake-up of UK company law for a decade.
read more FairTrade In Hammersmith and Fulham

Feb 2005
Sign up to the GM Free Rally

The Government has now started to consult over GM contamination and liability to pave the way for GM crops to be grown. And the US is trying to force GM food into Europe. Make sure your voice is heard! A mass lobby of Parliament is taking place on Wednesday 23rd February 2005 to demand: The right to choose GM-free food, Strict laws to prevent GM contamination and liability laws to ensure the biotech industry pays if anything goes wrong.

Join us at the rally and mass lobby to talk to your MP, hear inspirational speakers, network with fellow campaigners and admire the scarecrows! read more

meet 10.30 out side info center to march with group

Nov 2004
We are currently campaigning for Hammersmith and Fulham to follow Camden , Lambeth and Croydon who are already Fair Trade boroughs. There is widespread community support for the borough to work towards gaining Fairtrade status. So the council plans to put a resolution supporting Fairtrade to the Leaders' Committee in February. The race is now on to achieve the other four goals set by the Fairtrade Foundation for the target date of March 1.Volunteers are particularly required to identify 33 retail and 17 catering outlets selling or serving at least two Fairtrade products, plus ask local workplaces, churches, education establishments etc to serve fair trade products. Call Mary Corrall on 020 8748 7955 or email maryfairtrade@yahoo.co.uk (For details of the Fairtrade Town initiative, call the Fairtrade Foundation on 020 7405 5942 or go to http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/)

Oct 31 2004 The Final Straw!!!

On Saturday(30 October), Doris the scarecrow and local anti-GM campaigners called on local MPs to back new laws to keep Hammersmith and Fulham food Gm-Free. They encouraged people to sign “Scarecrow post cards” to send to local MPs challenging them to support tough new laws preventing GM contamination. One hundred and fifty local people signed the cards which just shows the strength of people's feelings on this subject. The launch was part of a national day of action involving around 50 local Friends of the Earth groups across the country and comes as the Government prepares to consult over GM crop “coexistence” with conventional crops . Doris the scarecrow will be continuing to fight to protect the crops and food, look out for her as you may see her in public places around the borough soon.

Whilst there are no GM crops currently being grown in the UK, the threat of GM planting remains. There are at least 10 applications to grow GM crops awaiting approval in Europe. If given the go ahead, farmers would be allowed to grow them in the UK. The Government has started looking at what practical measures will be needed to allow GM crops to be grown, such as separation distances. A public consultation is due to start imminently.

A recent NOP World poll showed that nearly two thirds of the UK public support tough new laws to prevent GM contamination of their food and farming. But the government looks set to design ‘coexistence’ measures to allow for widespread GM contamination of conventional crops and food. IN response, anti-GM scarecrows have left their allotments and fields and are taking to the streets to support local actions and events across the country to help protect local food and farming from GM contamination.

read about GM Lobby

Oct 26 2004

Brussels, 26 October. Friends of the Earth have condemned today’s decision by the European Commission to allow the import of a genetically modified (GM) maize into Europe. The GM maize is produced by the US based gene giant Monsanto. The environment group accuses the Commission of putting “corporate America” before public safety and democracy.

The Commission, in one of its final acts before handing over to new Commissioners next week, approved the import of Monsanto’s GM maize called NK603. It has been genetically modified to be resistant to Monsanto’s own herbicide called RoundUp. In July the Commission approved NK603 for animal feed but today’s decision to agree it for human food as now well allows Monsanto to import NK603 into Europe. Only 11 out of 25 member states are believed to have supported it in an indicative vote taken in June this year (1). Using its legal powers the Commission can make the decision itself if there is no consensus amongst member states.

- Fails to look at the corn’s effects on subsequent generations, cumulative toxic effects and the effects on the health of sensitive consumers as required under EU food law (2)

- insufficiently investigated the possibility of the genetic modification causing more allergies (3)

Friends of the Earth is accusing the Commission of caving in to the pressure that the US administration has put on the EU in tabling a complaint at the WTO against Europe's biotech policy.

“This is a shameful final act by the out-going European Commission. Despite scientific disagreements over its safety and huge public rejection the Commission decided instead to put the interests of corporate America before the safety of Europeans. One wonders why ? “

GM-Free Business Campaign

Since the GM-Free Britain campaign was launched in October 2002 it has been incredibly successful. Over 150 local groups are signed up to work on the campaign. As a result 50 local authorities in England and Wales, and a number in Scotland, that have gone "GM Free" and have passed resolutions opposing Gm Food and crops in their areas. There is no doubt this sends a powerful message to the Government.

Over this time a lot has been happening politically. In March 2004, the government revealed its GM Policy in a statement by the Secretary of state for DEFRA(Dep of Environment and Rural Affairs), Margaret Beckett. It announced that two of the three crops grown in the Farm Scale Evaluations (oil seed and rape) should not be grown in the UK. Bit it gave qualified approval for GM Maize, which could have been the first commercial GM crop to be grown in Britain, potentially in early sprint 2005, as a fodder crop for cattle. It is only because the biotech company behind the crop, Bayer Crop Science , with drew it three weeks later claiming that is was "commercially non-viable", that the imminent prospect of GM crops being grown commercially has temporarily receded.

However the threat of GM remains as real as ever. Biotech companies are continuing to lodge applications to grow GM crops in Europe. If approved, Gm crops could be grown in the UK by 2007. Over the next year or so, the UK Government is making crucial decisions about what practical measures are needed in the field to allow GM crops to "coexist" with non - GM crops, such as separation distances.

It is vital that the government continues to feel the pressure from members of the public and local authorities who want to continue to grow and eat GM-Free food. Now for the first time, the pressure will also come from food businesses.

The vast majority of food businesses in the UK are small or medium sized and locally or regionally based. Many companies have already stated their desire to produce genuinely GM-Free products. However at the moment there is no clear way for these companies to demonstrate this desire to the Government in hope of influencing policy. By moving the campaign on to the wider business community we feel that we can put even more pressure on the government.

We are asking local businesses to pledge to support the GM-Free Britain campaign, support measures to keep GM out of the food chain and do their best to be GM free for the foreseeable future. By pledging this the business will not only send a message to local consumers that this business is striving to be GM-Free, but also to the Government that:
-It knows he public doesn't want GM
-It knows most local authorities don't want GM (Hammersmith and Fulham council have a GM free catering policy)
-The business community doesn't want GM food either

Would you like to help with this campaign? Could you ask a local company to sign the pledge? We have some very attractive certificates for anyone interested. Find out more at the November meeting.....

41/3/04

GM crop growing in the UK comes to an abrupt end

Bayer CropScience has decided to discontinue further efforts to commercialise its GM forage maize variety, Chardon LL, in the UK because it is "economically non-viable". The decision, blamed by the company on government restrictions, means no GM crop will be grown commercially in the UK in 2005 and raises questions about the future of GM in this country.

A spokesman for Defra said "In the current climate in the EU, with member states' strong views on these matters, there's little prospect of any GM crops coming forward for consideration in the near future."

GM maize off the menu ... but still in our milk

Anyone who cares about the British countryside will be delighted to hear that the only genetically modified (GM) crop to be given the green light for commercialisation in the UK has been abandoned by its manufacturer - before it was even planted.

Chemical company Bayer Cropscience has announced that it will not grow its GM Chardon LL maize in the UK.

Chardon LL was the variety of maize that 28 Greenpeace volunteers uprooted in Norfolk in 1999 when the crop was undergoing field trials. They were acquitted of charges of criminal damage when the court agreed they were acting in the interest of protecting the environment.

The genetically modified (GM) maize was the last great hope of the GM industry. The UK government has already turned down requests to commercially plant GM oilseed rape (canola) and beet. With Bayer's retreat, the anti-GM campaign has won a significant victory.

Some of the world's most powerful companies and one of the world's most powerful governments have remained steadfastly determined to get GM crops grown commercially in the UK, despite massive public resistance campaigns which have:

This is a great victory for the thousands and thousands of people who have taken online action, shopped selectively to avoid GM products, spent cold nights pulling up crops, long weekends talking to shoppers and farmers, and years of emotional and intellectual energy countering the bullying, lobbying power and financial clout of the GM companies.

It's no exaggeration to say, that the movement against genetic engineering has been one of the most successful - if not the most successful - environmental campaigns of all time. So will its success endure, or will it be just a temporary setback for the biotech industry? As Mao Zedong famously replied when asked about the impact of the French Revolution: `It's too early to tell.'

Challenge your supermarket
GM cattle feed is still being imported into the UK today. So please keep up the pressure on supermarkets, telling them you won't buy their milk unless they can guarantee no GM feed has been used. At the moment the only way to guarantee milk is from animals not fed GMOs is to buy organic or buy from Marks and Spencer - the only supermarket to get rid of GM feed from their milk.

If you've not already contacted your supermarket, please do so - details at
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/real_food/press_for_change/gm_labelling/index.html

Sign the Green Gloves Pledge
Over 3,000 people have now signed the `Green Gloves' pledge to either peacefully pull up any such crops or to support those doing so. The campaigners hope that the pledge will deter the government and farmers from pushing ahead with GM. It's easy to sign up to the campaign on the web, and if enough people make the pledge the UK might stay GM-free for the foreseeable future. www.greengloves.org

You may have heard about John Clark's (Liberal councillor for Ryedale District Council) initiative to demonstrate to the Government that thousands of people will need to be consulted if they allow farmers to grow GM maize. He is supplying organic maize seed for people to grow at home or on their allotments and is keeping a tally of the numbers of growers involved. If you already grow sweetcorn or if you would like John to supply a few seeds, please contact him direct: John Clark, Cropton Mill, Pickering, North Yorkshire, tel: 01751 417131, email johnclark@gmfreeryedale.org.uk, website: http://www.gmfreeryedale.org.uk/

Yesterday Secretary of State Margaret Beckett made a long awaited statement on GM policy.

She announced that the Government is happy to go ahead with growing the GM maize Chardon LL, tested in the Farm Scale Evaluations (FSE) for commercial use. This is on condition that it is only grown in the same way as in the FSE and that no other weed killers are used. These conditions must be agreed with the EU before the maize can be grown in the UK.

The GM approval for the maize will expire in 2006. Before a renewal can be granted the Government wants to see new data comparing the GM weed control with the conventional controls that will replace atrazine and related weedkillers when they are banned in 2006.

The Government will not support the commercial growing of GM spring oilseed rape and beets. The Government also announced that they will provide guidance for farmers on establishing voluntary GM free zones. Friends of the Earth believes that a voluntary scheme like this would be very difficult and costly to organise and would easily break down if any one farmer disagrees with it.

Finally Margaret Beckett indicated that the Government intends to consult about contamination thresholds in organic produce, coexistence of GM and non-GM crops and a compensation fund for contaminated farmers.

Friends of the Earth will continue to oppose the approval of GM maize because of continuing concerns about food and animal feed, environmental safety, the validity of the FSE results and the prevention of contamination of neighbouring crops.

A new online email action will be available soon to write to MPs and urge them to ask ministers how voluntary GM free zones will work if farmers refuse to sign up or change their minds about growing GM crops.

The Environmental Audit Committee, which is comprised of cross-party MPs, today released their second report which unequivocally called for:

- the Government to enact clear and comprehensive legislation on liability, before any GM crops can be grown commercially.

Downing Street has confirmed that a decision will be made next week on whether the UK will grow genetically-modified crops.

Please write to your MP emphasising the importance of the recommendations within the Environmental Audit Committee's Second Report, and ask for their support by signing EDM 462*

Your letter need only be short and can be sent to: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA. If you don't have the time to write a letter, please make a 2 minute phone call to your MP's office. You can either call 0207 219 3000 and ask for your MP's office or look up the constituency office phone number in your local phone book. You need only leave a short message with your MP's assistant registering your opposition to GM crops.

An Open Letter to Tony Blair on the Commercial Growing of GM Crops in the

We, the undersigned organisations, who between us have a combined membership of approximately eight million British citizens, call upon the Government to respond to the concerns of our members and supporters, as well as those of the public more generally by not allowing the commercial use of GM crops in the UK at this time.

In May 2003 we wrote to the Rt. Hon. Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs outlining our main concerns about the GM Nation? public debate. In particular we were concerned that it was unclear how the views of the public would feed in to the decision-making process and we asked for assurance that the results of the debate would be fully taken in to account when the

adopts its position on the commercialisation of GM crops. The impression given at the time was one of consultation without inclusion.

In the light of the recent leaks from the minutes of the Sub-Committee on Biotechnology (SCI(BIO)) meeting held on the 11^th February 2004 , we are dismayed to learn that, although the Government clearly recognises public opinion is against GM food, it is now considering how to develop a “coherent strategy on promoting biotechnology in the EU”[1], against the wishes of the majority of its citizens.

We are also dismayed that the Government appears to be focussing its attention on how “opposition to GM might eventually be worn down”[2], rather than addressing the many legitimate concerns that people have about GM technology and incorporating these concerns into its decision-making.

Therefore we believe the government has failed to consider the evidence before it. In particular we are concerned that:

ACTION -Milk EDM about the current balance between the price paid for milk by consumers and that paid to its producers by dairy companies. Ask your MP to support
http://edm.ais.co.uk/weblink/html/motion.html/ref=548

NEWS/ACTION - MPs attempted to close the loophole in planning law that allows Asda-Walmart and other retailers to hugely extend floorspace without planning permission. The Bill has now gone to the House of Lords. Awareness of the issue is increasing, with Eastleigh council in Hampshire ordering a public enquiry into a local case. Take action online at http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/real_food/press_for_change/mp/index.html

free on the 15th of Novemeber and to ban GM crops from being grown on Trust land. Friends of the Earth, welcomed the vote which took place at the National Trust AGM in Portsmouth and is urging the Trust to act on members wishes . The Trust is the largest private owner of agricultural land in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The resolution was carried by a huge majority of almost 60% voting against GM crops being grown, with only 15% in favour of GM and 26% of members abstaining.

The National Trust owns more than six hundred thousand acres of land -over 80 per cent of which is farmed or depends upon farming for its management.

BOROUGH COUNCIL CONFIRMS GM FREE CATERING POLICY
We have received the following policy statement from Direct Catering Services about their GM Policy Statement:
"It is the policy of Direct Catering Services not to use Genetically Modified in ingredients in any of our products.

Direct Catering Services do not knowingly serve any foods that contain Genetically Modified ingredients.

We have informed our suppliers that we will not accept any ingredients know to have GM Material.

We have received confirmation from our suppliers that none of the items supplied to us knowingly contain GM additives or derivatives"

Education Catering,
Hammersmith Town Hall (including functions),
Social Services and
Lunch Clubs

They have kindly provided us with copies of contracts proving that their suppliers are GM free. We are delighted with the council responsible policy in this area.