Information and two suggestions for action:

1: Spread of Contamination

Michael Meacher has admitted to the House of Commons (13/06/00) that buffer zones of any width around GM crops cannot safeguard against the contamination of non-GM crops elsewhere. He said: "It is false to pretend that there is any distance which is going to prevent some contamination." This is what anti-GM campaigners have been telling the Government for a long time.

Pete Riley of Friends of the Earth says: "At last a Government Minister agrees with us! What we need now is action to prevent the current farm-scale trials and test sites contaminating crops and honey. Mr Meacher has let a large yowling cat out of the bag: a rambling debate about crop separation distances would be a complete waste of time."

Also responding to Mr Meacher's admission, Patrick Holden, Director of the Soil Association, says: "This demonstrates that we simply should not be doing open air testing of GM crops. Every bit of evidence that's coming out is strengthening the case for not going down the route of this technology."

Please write to Nick Brown, demanding, in the light of this Government admission, that the trials of GM crops be halted immediately and the existing plantings be dug up and destroyed. No risk of GM contamination is necessary or acceptable.

Send letters and postcards to: The Rt. Hon. Nick Brown MP, Agriculture Minister, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London, SW1P 3JR.

2: An Acceptable Level of Contamination!

On the same occasion (13/06/00), Michael Meacher said: "The question is how we can absolutely minimise that [i.e. GM contamination] to a level which is acceptable to those buying the product because it is they who buy the product which will have to determine what degree of GM in a non-GM food is acceptable to them."

Please write to Michael Meacher, insisting that GM-free can only mean 0% contamination. Anything else is unacceptable.

Send letters and postcards to: The Rt. Hon. Michael Meacher MP, Minister for the Environment, DETR, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London, SW1E 5DU.

SAMPLE POSTCARD

• Take a standard postcard
• Write the heading "RE: GM Oilseed Rape" on it*
• Below this, write in large capital letters "DIG IT UP!"
• Add the name and address of the person you want to send it to (see below for contact addresses)
• Add your name and town or full address
• Stick on a stamp and post it

* If you are planning to send a lot of these, you could get a rubber stamp made with the words "GM Oilseed Rape". Then all your fellow campaigners have to do is write "DIG IT UP!" across it on their postcatds. We have got a rubber stamp and it is proving very useful.

READY-MADE PROTEST NOTE TO SEND
Send an image of an oilseed rape plant, with the words DIG IT UP! written across it. Here is a sheet we prepared earlier ready for you to use.

• Just print out the page
• Add the name and address of the person you want to send it to (see below for contact addresses)
• Write "DIG IT UP!" across the image of the oilseed rape plant
• Add your name and address
• Post or fax it

SAMPLE LETTER
If you wish to send a letter outlining in more detail the reasons why you are calling upon the Government to have all the potentially contaminated oilseed crops dug up and destroyed and to pay full compensation to the farmers who have unknowingly planted them - then here is an example. Please include the heading DIG IT UP! in your letters.

LOBBY YOUR MP

Urge your MP to sign Early Day Motion 782.

EDM 782
GM-CONTAMINATED MAIZE, tabled on 24.05.00 by Alan Simpson MP:
"That this House is alarmed to discover that up to 100,000 hectares of this year's maize crop in Europe may be subject to GM contamination; is concerned that this is on a larger scale than the recently admitted GM contamination of oilseed rape; believes it is grossly dishonest of the European seed industry and EU officials to respond by demanding a reversal of current European zero contamination rules rather than tackling the central issue of genetic pollution; and calls on Her Majesty's Government to follow Sweden and France in destroying GM-contaminated seeds and crops, to arrange compensation for farmers, to hold seed suppliers fully liable for contamination under the polluter pays principle, and to halt seed imports which lack comprehensive verification as being GM-free."

Of the various Early Day Motions which have recently been tabled, this one most closely matches the aims of the DIG IT UP! campaign.

CONTACTS
Send your DIG IT UP! demands to:

The Rt. Hon Nick Brown MP
Agriculture Minister
Nobel House, 17 Smith Square
London, SW1P 3JR
tel: 020-7238 6380/6379
fax: 020-7270 8419
email: helpline@inf.maff.gov.uk

Baroness Hayman
MAFF, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square
London, SW1P 3JR
tel: 020-7238 6380/6379
fax: 020-7270 8419
email: helpline@inf.maff.gov.uk

The Rt. Hon Michael Meacher MP
DETR, Eland House, Bressenden Place
London, SW1E 5DU
email: michael_meacher@detr.gov.uk

The Rt. Hon. Marjorie Mowlam MP
Cabinet Office
70 Whitehall
London, SW1A 2AS

The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair MP
10 Downing Street
London, SW1A 2AA

Ross Finnie MSP
Minister for Rural Affairs
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh, EH99 1SP
tel: 0131 348 5783
fax: 0131 348 5966
email: Ross.Finnie.msp@scottish.parliament.uk

Advanta Seeds UK Ltd
Sleaford
Lincolnshire, NG34 7HA
tel: 01529 304511
fax: 01529 303908
Managing Director - M J Ruthven
Commercial Director - A S Guthrie

LINK TO THIS SITE
To make a link from your site to the DIG IT UP! website, just make a hypertext link to http://www.dig-it-up.uk.net

If you are using a web authoring tool, select the "link" option and add the web address, or if you need it the HTML code, it is:

<A href="http://www.dig-it-up.uk.net">DIG IT UP!</a><br> A call to remove GM Oilseed Rape from Britain's countryside.

If you would like to make a link using the DIG IT UP! logo, then save the image given below to your computer, by right clicking, and selecting "Save Picture As", if you are using a PC, or if you are using a Mac, by clicking and holding on the image, and then selecting from the menu that appears "download image to disc".

A call to remove GM Oilseed Rape from Britain's countryside

Insert the image into your web page and make a hyper link to the web address: http://www.dig-it-up.uk.net

If you need the HTML code it is:

<A href="http://www.dig-it-up.uk.net"><img src="dig_sm.gif" width=96 height=15 border=0 alt="DIG IT UP!"</a><font face="Courier New, Courier" size="3">A call to remove GM Oilseed Rape from Britain's countryside.</font>