GMW:_MORE_ON_GM_QUESTION_TIME_AND_THOSE_BEHIND_IT

[Guest guest]

> GMW:_MORE_ON_GM_QUESTION_TIME_AND_THOSE_BEHIND_IT

> " GM_WATCH " <info

> Fri, 2 Jul 2004 15:25:57 +0100

 

>

> GM WATCH daily

> http://www.gmwatch.org

> ------

> Here's first more on the pro-GM briefing in the

> House of Commons on 13th July in the evening,

> organised by Sense about Science, which may be open

> to the public - see e-mail and phone details below.

>

> Ostensibly this is being organised by the Sientific

> Alliance but as there is such a cross over between

> Sci Alli, Sense About Science and CropGen, this may

> well be a collective effort.

>

> Anyone in the UK may like to alert their Member of

> Parliament to the dubious character of the

> Scientific Alliance - see the LOBBYWATCH profile

> below.

>

> For more info on the " leading scientists and

> respected experts " (respected is the one thing you

> can't say about this shower!) on the panel:

> http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4004

>

> Note that: " GM Question Time will also include the

> launch of the Scientific Alliance's expert report on

> the various strands of the Government's GM Review. "

>

> Presumably, another attempt the Women's Institute

> was behind all the public hostility.

>

> 1.GM QUESTION TIME: LETTER OF INVITATION

> 2.Scientific Alliance - a LOBBYWATCH profile

> -------

> 1.GM QUESTION TIME: LETTER OF INVITATION

>

> Dear Colleague

>

> I would like to take an opportunity to remind you of

> the event outlined below, to which you recently

> received an invitation:

>

> GM QUESTION TIME

>

> A Parliamentary Q & A Session

> 13 July 2004, 17.00 - 19.00

>

> Room R, Portcullis House

>

> hosted by Rt Hon David Curry MP, Dr Ian Gibson MP &

> Dr Evan Harris MP in association with The Scientific

> Alliance

>

> GM Question Time has been designed to provide a

> valuable opportunity for MPs and Peers themselves

> to seek answers from respected scientific experts to

> the GM questions of greatest importance to them.

>

> The event will bring together a panel of leading

> scientists and respected experts to answer questions

> on, and debate, the scientific evidence of the risks

> and benefits of GM technologies.

>

> ·Professor Sir Colin Berry, Queen Mary, University

> of London

>

> ·Dr John Pidgeon, Broom's Barn Research Station,

> Rothamsted Research

>

> ·Professor Michael Wilson, University of Warwick

>

> ·Kimball Nill, Agriculture Commodity Coalition

>

> ·Bob Fiddaman, Farmer and participant in the Field

> Scale Evaluations

>

> Programme

>

> 17.00 Introduction from the Chair

>

> 17.10 Questions to the Scientists' Panel from the

> floor

>

> 18.15 Tea/coffee and sandwiches

>

> GM Question Time will also include the launch of the

> Scientific Alliance's expert report on the various

> strands of the Government's GM Review.

>

> Should you like to attend, please reply to the

> Scientific Alliance by either emailing

> info (please put " GM

> Question Time " in the subject line), or calling them

> on 020 7484 5355.

>

> We look forward very much to hearing from you.

>

> Yours sincerely

>

> David Curry MP

> ---------

> 2.Scientific Alliance - a LOBBYWATCH profile

>

http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=136 & page=S

>

> The Scientific Alliance claims to offer a rational

> scientific approach to the environmental debate and

> says that it was formed 'in response to the growing

> concern that the debate on the environment has been

> distorted by extreme pressure groups'. However, the

> Alliance is seen by many as a corporate-friendly

> front group forwarding its own extreme agenda. It is

> also perfectly prepared to attack the scientific

> consensus on issues that do not fit with that agenda

> - for example, climate change.

>

> The founders of the Scientific Alliance are Mark

> Adams and quarryman Robert Durward, the director of

> the British Aggregates Association. Durward says he

> is 'a businessman who is totally fed up with all

> this environmental stuff... much of which is

> unjustified, such as the climate change levy. We

> also have the aggregates tax, which will put the UK

> quarry industry out of business.'

>

> Durward and Adams established the Scientific

> Alliance in 2001. Two years later The Scotsman

> newspaper reported that on contacting the Alliance

> to ask about Durward's role, 'after some

> uncertainty, the switchboard it shares with a number

> of other firms denied any knowledge of Mr Durward’s

> existence. Matthew Drinkwater, the one

> person responding to calls to its offices, could

> also be contacted by ringing the offices of

> Foresight Communications.'

>

> Foresight Communications is a PR firm established by

> Mark Adams in January 2001. As well as The

> Scientific Alliance, its client list includes

> the British Aggregates Association and the New Party

> for Britain (also known as the People's Alliance).

> The New Party - also the name of

> Oswald Mosley's first party - is so right-wing that

> the Tory leader in Scotland, where it operates, has

> called it 'fascist and undemocratic'.

>

> Like the Scientific Alliance, this 'People's

> Alliance', was established by Durward and Adams.

> According to The Scotsman, Durward has spoken out on

> many issues, including the 'witch-hunt' against

> drink drivers, the 'media-fuelled circus of Kyoto',

> and the 'bluster emanating from the collective

> witch-hunt referred to kindly as the green

> movement'. He has also written,'Perhaps it is now

> time for Tony Blair to try the " fourth way " : declare

> martial law and let the army sort out our schools,

> hospitals, and roads as well. Who knows, they might

> even manage to put the 'great' back into Britain.'

>

> The website of the Scientific Alliance seems

> designed to downplay any sense of extremism. Its

> colours are muted. The prose style is generally

> measured and its logo combines a microscope with a

> pair of scales. However, a careful reading of the

> views it projects reveals something less than

> balance.

>

> On organic farming, for instance, the Scientific

> Alliance says: 'Many scientists maintain that the

> organic movement follows ideological principles

> which are not supported by science. Indeed, Dr

> Patrick Moore, one of the founders of Greenpeace,

> has argued that if all farming were to be organic,

> productivity would be so low that almost all forests

> around the world would have to be destroyed to make

> way for agricultural land. If the whole world went

> organic, it could support only 3-4 billion people,

> with a high risk of pest and

> disease epidemics.'

>

> Organic farming, then, if widely adopted, would

> bring ecological catastrophe, mass starvation and

> in all probability pest and disease pandemics. Not

> mentioned is the fact that, since leaving Greenpeace

> nearly 20 years ago, Patrick Moore has spent much of

> his time countering environmental concerns as a paid

> front man for Canada's lumber industrialists.

>

> As well as running a website, the Scientific

> Alliance regularly organises conferences on

> environmental issues. In November 2002 it organised

> a conference on GM called Fields of the Future. The

> conference chairman was Lord Taverne of Sense about

> Science, and Tracey Brown of Sense about Science

> helped to find speakers for the event. In 2003 Bill

> Durodie, who like Brown is part of the Living

> Marxism network, joined the Scientific Alliance

> Advisory Forum.

>

> One of the speakers at Fields of the Future was

> Professor Brian Thomas from Horticultural Research

> International. An article based on Thomas's speech

> appeared on both the Scientific Alliance website and

> that of Spiked, a website run by the former editor

> of the magazine Living Marxism (later LM). Tracey

> Brown and Bill Durodie are also Spiked/LM

> contributors.

>

> Mike Wilson of Horticulture Research International

> serves on the Alliance's Advisory Forum, as do a

> number of other leading GM proponents, including

> Tony Trewavas, Philip Stott, Vivian Moses of

> CropGen, and Martin Livermore - a PR consultant

> formerly with Dupont, who is also a Fellow of the

> International Policy Network. Moses and Wilson are

> also part of Sense About Science.

>

>

>