Home | 25th October 1996 | Issue 96

WAKE UP! WAKE UP! IT'S YER FULL OF BEANS

SchNEWS

SOYA: A FOUR LETTER WORD

* Genetically engineered beans on their way
* Get yer DNA in a twist about it now
* Your food is under attack from multinationals

"Once a genetically modified organism is released it cannot be recalled... it's terrifying." - Prince Charles.

This Thursday a clear link between Mad Cow Disease and its human equivalent (CJD) was established. Once again those who manipulate nature for profit were shown to be playing with things they don't understand and have little control over. However, this will pale into insignificance if a new experiment - Genetic Engineering (GE) - goes wrong. And the punchline is that we are all part of the experiment, like it or not!

US chemical giant Monsanto are about to pull a fast one. They're growing GE foods which are going into shops without labelling or adequate testing. They are playing Russian Roulette with our lives, and the lives of all species on the planet. And this time, unlike BSE, being veggie or vegan isn't enough to give you the last laugh. Luckily there is time to stop it - if we convince farmers, food-makers and retailers we don't want it.

GE (gene manipulation, modification, biotechnology whatever) is basically taking genes out of one thing and splicing them into another. And splicing doesn't stop at species barriers. You can pick'n'mix your genes from things like bacteria, viruses, plants and animals! Human genes have been moved into fish, bacterial and animal genes into plants. Is this necessary? Well actually it isn't, but the people who are to make loads of money from it will give you a variety of answers, including. "It's the only way we'll ever be able to feed the world" Sure.

Of course those with even the smallest bit of common sat can see this is complete nonsense and they're just in it for the money. But there are people out there (like Unilever, Nestle and most of the big supermarkets) who believe it's true. And they're about to put the first of the mass produced GE crops - soya - into lots of their products. 60% of all processed food contains soya ingredients. Things like bread, biscuits, cakes & baby food have soya flour in. Chocolate contains soya lecithin, loads of veggie and vegan food has soya and even things like beer use it. Unless the crops arc either sabotaged, blockaded or boycotted, then soya products will be tainted forever.

If the soya bean succeeds, then it'll open the way for a flood of other GE foods. GE tomato puree is on supermarket shelves in the UK and farmers in the US and Europe will soon be able to buy GE, multinational patented tobacco, cotton, corn & oilseed rape. Many crops such as apples and sugar beet are already being grown in UK fields.

US farmers are now harvesting the first crop of the GE soya bears and they'll be on their way across the Atlantic very soon. Then they'll be processed, mostly by Cargills, and sent on to food manufacturers and into the shops, perhaps by Christmas. This year, only about 2% of the crop has been GE, next year it could be 30%. And by mixing the contaminated beans with the 'natural' ones, Monsanto are trying to slip them by without us realising.

A poll of German consumers showed over 80% were opposed to GE food. Germany purchases 1,272,300 Metric Tons of US soybeans per year.

These soya beans have been GE by Monsanto to be resistant to their own herbicide "Roundup". Farmers will become more dependent on Monsanto for survival. Chances are, they'll also end up using more herbicide, not less. Roundup-Ready Soybeans bring no benefit whatsoever to the consumer - they are not cheaper, tastier or healthier. Monsanto's patent for Roundup Herbicide expires in four years time. Could they be hoping to secure sales in the future by linking the soya bean to the herbicide'? We've seen something similar to this before, with disastrous results for many farmers.

Under the flag of the "green revolution" farmers in developing countries were tied into dependence on toxic chemical fertilisers and pesticides. The system drove small farmers out of business and increased larger fares profits.

The firm was a major producer of Agent Orange, the military term for a combination of herbicides which was available commercially throughout the 1950s and 1960s. More than one hundred million pounds were used to clear jungles during the Vietnam War. Soldiers exposed to Agent Orange who suffered severe health problems now blame the herbicide. Monsanto also manufactured PCBs - the chemicals which have been proven to cause cancer and birth defects. It's hardly a confidence booster to know that the same company which produced these will now be in charge of the genetic make-up of our staple food supplies

And what happens if this herbicide resistant soya bean escapes and breeds with its wild relatives? That's anyone's guess. Perhaps we'll see 'superweeds' that take over other more delicate plants, reducing bio-diversity.

Failed GE experiments show how unpredictable GE is. In a previous GE experiment with soya beans, a brazil nut gene was inserted into a soya bean. Scientists couldn't predict that it would cause severe reactions in people with brazil nut allergies - but it did. Another crop, designed to ward off pests became toxic and left soil infertile.

We have a right to know what is being planted in the fields and being put into our food. Some campaign groups have started to publicly brand all parts of this genetic experiment with an X (as in the X-Files), to alert people to what's going on. In the US, Greenpeace sprayed a huge X on a field of GE soya beans. In the UK, Unilever have been targeted and branded with the X to show that they too are a part of the problem. Other groups such as Earth First! and Genetics Forum are also using the X.

Direct action against genetically modified organisms has begun. In the US, an altered "X-field" of Round-up Ready soybeans was quarantined by Greenpeace. In Europe there have been instances of crops being sabotaged. In Germany 3000 sugar beet plants were destroyed one night this year. In Holland, a group calling themselves the "Seething Spuds" wrecked a field of potatoes.

Biotechnology is today what nuclear power was in the 1960s and 1970s - a dangerous game that fools with mother nature. Pressure needs to be kept on the retailers and food producers to keep a supply of non-GE food - they have the power to do this. Ring them, write to them, fax them. Demand they take action to stop the genetic experiment now! By creating a stir in Europe about the Soya beans, we could still stop the farmers in North and South America from planting next year's crop. A Campaign Pack is being prepared. If you want a copy give Justice? a shout and we'll try to get one to you.

Don't let them have the last laugh. Xpose the Xperiment! You'd be mad not to, whether you have CJD or not.

Genetic Engineering contact list over the page!

MCDONALDS SHORTS

** The closing speeches of the McLibel trial started Monday. 180 witnesses have been grilled, and the prosecution team have had the shakes for a while. The case is expected to end before Christmas. ** An ad featuring a foetus tugging at its mother's umbilical cord to get her to buy a Big Mac has been screened on US TV. Shows that you're never too young to have a Mac Attack (or be brainwashed by the paedophile clown)
** A Camden resident is single handedly taking on 8 McD's cronies as they try to get a 'Night Cafe' licence for Central London stores. Camden Council are caught in the middle of this McNiceOne.

NEW POLICE FIT UP!

Those who smelt the appalling fumes from the burning police helmets during Reclaim the Future in Liverpool will be pleased to hear that the traditional upturned tit is to be changed from 1998 onwards to a chic polystyrene number that looks more like a blue Tupperware bowl... (hmm...burning polystyrene?) SchNEWS is sad to report that there are no plans to reform the personnel underneath. The Prussian-style helmet which has sat on the beads of our esteemed officers since 1863 will be replaced in a spring clean out for the plod which sees them also getting new 'Magic T-Shirts' which apparently stop bullets or knife attacks. Here at SchNEWS we live in hope that they are sufficiently magic to make the cops disappear altogether.

NATIONAL CRIME SQUAD

Announced in the Queen's speech on Wednesday were 13 new bills, including Britain's first National Crime Squad, the corporate amalgamation of all 43 police forces. A Liberty spokesperson said of the force, which was road tested during Euro '96: "In the past two years Michael Howard has reduced the democratic accountability of police forces throughout the country. A national police force will reduce democratic control over the police even further, while increasing the power of the government."

It is estimated that the measures contained in the Crime Bill, such as harsher sentencing, will add between 25-30,000 prisoners onto the record 57,000 existing prison population (see SchNEWS 83). This will require the building of another 22 private jails. It was also divulged that a 25% increase in the prison population will only bring about a 1% decrease in crime. These new bills are being seen as a revenge measure in the week when it was revealed that prisoner's cells were being bugged.

BURN THE BASE!

Faslane Peace Camp is hosting a major weekend of resistance to Trident from 2nd - 5th November culminating in a bonfire party and fire procession. Faslane Peace Camp was due to be shut down earlier this year but as a tearful campaigner told SchNEWS "no one was able to bring themselves to put the final nail in the coffin, so Faslane lives and fights on." Meanwhile actions continue with the aim "to harass every convoy" with people managing to get on top of one of the warhead vehicle convoys holding it for 20 minutes. More info: 01703 554434.

BP: Bloody Psychopaths

It always was obvious that Shell were not the only oil company that were utter scumbags - now there is concrete proof. BP have been found to help fund the Colombian Death squads which have earnt the country the tag "Worst Human Rights Record in the Western Hemisphere" by the Group Human Rights Watch. The company is also guilty of quite appalling environmental damage there. "What is happening in Colombia is chillingly similar to Shell's activities in Nigeria" said Richard Howitt, Labour MEP for Essex South. Environmental activist Humberto Casteneda was jailed after BP video evidence was handed over to the government. Many more activists have been murdered. However, this all pales into insignificance compared to the estimated £23 pillion Colombian oil fields, right BP?
** Give BP a ring on 0171 496 4000. Tell them what you think of their slick, murderous activities.

YOU DON'T JSA!

Tips to defeat the JSA
If you wait more than 10 mins in the signing queue then the Citizen's Charter entitles you to complain. Thanks John Major! Although not very exciting, complaints do actually work - it means the dole office loses Charter Marks and the bosses get shit 'cos all the offices are in competition to be the most efficient. And it ties up managers' time - every complaint is dealt with by the boss of the job centre. The Jobseeker's Charter also guarantees your right to privacy, so make sure you ask for a little cubicle to carry out your important business. SchNEWS scribes have also found that telling the JSA peeps that you are an "unpaid freelance environmental campaigner/writer/researcher" works every time (probably). ** There have been 32 changes in the way unemployment has been measured since the Tories came into power.

Genetic Engineering Contact List

GOODIES:
** Contact the Genetics Forum: 3rd Floor, 5-11 Worship St, London EC2A 2BH. Tel-0171 638 0606. Fax-.0171 628 08!7. They produce a magazine called 'The Splice of life'

** OR Subscribe to Genethies News (bi-monthly), FREEPOST, P0 Box 6313, London N 16 0BR. (Annual subscription £ 18.95).

** For details of Greenpeace's campaign against GE: Greenpeace, Canonbury Villas, Islington, London N1 2PN. Tel: 071 865 8100

** Check out the Earth First! Toxic Mutants home page: htip://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk/campaigns/ cfhtmls/toxmut.html

BADDIES:
** Monsanto have a consumer no., The Soya Bean Hotline, which is a local call from anywhere in the UK: 0345 023 288

** Monsanto plc, Thames Tower, Burleys Way, Leicester, LE1 3TP, tel 0116 262 0864

** Unilever plc PO Box 68, Unilever House, Blackfriars, London EC4P 4BQ tel 0171 822 5252, fax 0171 822 5951

** Cargill plc, Oilseeds processing Division, No 2 Gladstone Dock, Bootle, Merseyside, L20 1BG, tel 0151 933 6561, fax 0151933 0624 They have Manufacturing Plants in the UK under other names: e.g.: The Nutrasweet Kelco co, Ladyburn Works, Near Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland & The Nutrasweet Kelco Co, Knowsley. Merseyside

** Sainsburys consumer care (they promised to always give the consumer a choice over GE in food but now are saying they are unable to... hardly a poor little company.. truth is they're pro-GE) phone 0800 636262

** The World Food Summit is in Rome 13th-17th Nov. Bigwigs at the Summit arc trying to conclude that the solution to world food problems is biotechnology and liberalisation of trade. UK activists arc welcome to go there from the 4th on in order to plan actions. Ring Manchester EF! on 0161 224 4846 if you would like to go. There is transport going on the 4th and 8th November.

FAIRMILE...

The latest weapon of the direct action movement was unveiled at Fairmile on Thursday. A 110dB sonic beam can now be directed at any approaching cops or bailiffs causing their robotic circuits to fuse and smoke to come out of their ears. The K Foundation, formerly the KLF, are down at Fairmile with two 15K rigs on two 10ton Saracen tanks. On Thursday morning they treated everyone to a 30K bugle alarm call. They're providing night-time sounds too. Nice one.

One campaign vehicle was last week stopped and searched by police 6 times in 5 days. On one of these occasions, a hitcher (who was nothing to do with the campaign) was found to have an outstanding warrant for his arrest. The police are now trying to charge those concerned with aiding and abetting a criminal! info: 01404 815729

SchNEWS IN (not) BRIEF

** Rachel Bull who had her thumbs cut by a climber in the eviction of Rickety Bridge camp in Newbury has been sent down for 28 days for resisting a bailiff. Write to her. TG2162, HMP Holloway, Parkhurst Road, London, N7 0NU. Info: 0171 633 9509

** Get organised for (inter)national No Shop Day 96 - Saturday 30th Nov. Sort actions, publicity & get in contact to combat consumerism for a sustainable future. One World Centre, 6 Mount St. Manchester Tel: 0161 237 !630 ethicon@mcr1.poptel.org.uk

** Green Left Conference, 9th Nov, Conway Hall, Red Lion Sq., London. info: 13 Shetland Drive, Nuneaton, CV10 7GA

** A fully functioning camp at Pressmennan Woods, E. Lothian (SchNEWS 94) is now open, with sculpture park and loads of happening people. Anyone near please drop in! Tel: 0131228 2193 / 01368 850630.

** The general election is going to have some horrible specimens asking for your vote but Ms Elizabeth Law takes the biscuit for candidate-from-hell. She is planning to stand in the constituency that includes Dunblane on behalf of a pro-gun group called the Shooters' Rights Association. Give them a ring on 01239 698607 and, as sensitively as possible, tell them where they can stick their.22s.

** A very minimal police presence greeted the 500 people at the Manchester RTS last week, but they did have a curious looking van which had a video camera on the top. Something to watch out for?

** Our City: The Alternative Conference is in Sheffield on Nov. 30th. People needed for whatever workshops they can do. It's to be a 12hr do, with a 12hr. party after - Desert Storm and local sound systems playing.

** Hull had its first Critical Mass on Thurs. following the death of a student cyclist in the 1st week of term. Meeting in 4 weeks 4:45pm Victoria Square.

** Lloyds Bank have a new freephone so people can tell them they don't mind that they don't have any ethical criteria on where they invest their money. Ring 0800 10 60 10. And tell them killing 1000s of kids in the 3rd world is OK with you, or ring the Lloyds and Midland Boycott: 0161 274 4665.

** Top artistes who would like to appear at SchNEWSnights at Sanctuary Cafe, Hove ring 01273 685913. Next one Friday Nov 8th. Deadline for ideas 4th Nov.

** Brighton Hunt Sabs in desperate need of a new van. Offers or donations to PO Box 307, Ship St. Brighton - tel: 01273 622827

** Port Vale fans last week drove their chairman's van onto the pitch and set fire to it. What does Bill Archer drive again*

and finally...

Top news from the Information Superhighway. Tony Blair was given sandwiches (believed to be cheese and tomato) by a Mr Robert last week. Is nothing sacred? His imperial Majesty's lunch is being broadcast across the internet by someone hacking into pager messages who obviously needs a life. Something must be done about this urgently before more confidential information about our smiley fuhrer is leaked to the public. Whatever next? The shocking finding that he too does not eat his peas, or even worse that he tucks his shirt into his M&S Y-fronts? Watch out for more riveting stories! Who said that all technology was useless?

disclaimer

The SchNEWS advises all readers not to make a fuss about what they eat, and be grateful for what you are given. Always do the washing-up afterwards. Do not moan, whinge or protest when your tomatoes are 'improved' with essence of flat fish, and never kick up a stink when your soya products start walking round. Remember which side your bread is buttered and then you will feel content. Honest.

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Nice one to the people who flocked to the benefit gig this week in their ones and, er, ones!

SchNEWS, PO Box 2600, Brighton, BN2 0EF, England
Phone/Fax: +44 (0)1273 685913
email: schnews@brighton.co.uk

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