NOTE FROM THE GEN OFFICE...

Apologies for there not being December issue, this was due to annoying computer malfunctions, lots of meetings, campaign plotting and there not having enough hands - (now there's a positive use for GE). It also means that this GU is overloaded with info . We hope to be back to being monthly and this leads me to a request for help. Anybody out there with time, inclination and practical skills such as writing articles, research, database entries, returning phone messages, stamp licking expertise, fixing computers or the ability to relieve stress, then please let us know so that we can keep a record of folks we can call on in an emergency (or even when there is no emergency). Some jobs are last minute - for example when we suddenly realise that the printed version of Genetix Update is actually finished but there is nobody around to help with the mailout etc. Not always exciting work but help greatly appreciated and very much needed to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for information on this subject. Also it is not necessary for some things that you live in London such as research and enquiry help.

By the way if you have any doubts about the need for acting on any of the information in Genetix Update then just read this quote from a recent Business Week article. 'Ultimately, food fights won't get Europe very far. "Our genes are incorporated into approximately 19 million acres around the world covering an area larger than Switzerland and the Netherlands combined," says Tom McDermott, Monsanto's European public affairs head. "Can Europe at this point really resist?" Well yes we can - and we are!'

Here is another quote, this one from Alison Maitland in the Financial Times: "There is a noticeable absentee from the genetic feast: Europe. [This is the important bit] Up to now, NO transgenic crops have been planted commercially in the European Union. There are many trial plots, but nothing grown in Europe has yet reached the shops. Nor are there many imports. The [legislative] regime is actually getting stricter. New proposals by the European Commission seek to toughen the licensing conditions for new crops and build "ethical considerations" into the approval process." Referring to recent tests re: ladybirds and the negative effect of GE crops that was published recently, Derek Burke, a biologist and former chairman of the UK government's advisory committee on novel foods said recently. "This is a warning. We're going to have to be very careful about the environmental consequences, which are probably a bit more complicated than we scientists used to think." "The fight for European acceptance of genetic agriculture could have an effect around the world. At the moment, the sceptics appear to have the upper hand." finished Maitland.
So... carry on resisting it is working. We dedicate this issue to Mr Mc Dermott.