Cereals 99 protesters in court tomorrow
27 July 1999
Cereals ’99 protesters in court tomorrow
By FWi staff
FOUR people who destroyed a crop of genetically modified sugar beet at Cereals 99 last month are due to appear before the High Court in London tomorrow (Wednesday).
The four activists, from the militant environmental group Genetix Snowball, will be told whether they uprooted the plants in breach of a High Court injunction.
The biotechnology company Monsanto, which owned the crop, claims the activists breached an injunction it had taken out in an attempt to protect the GM beet.
The GM sugar beet was planted last year at the site of Cereals 99 on Vine Farm, Wendy, in Hertfordshire, ready for this years show.
But on the morning of the opening day of Cereals 99 the four activists uprooted the GM plants and bagged them up, claiming that they were a biohazard.
The activists were not arrested and stayed to account for their action until security staff escorted them off the site.
Four other people from Genetix Snowball distributed information and explained the action to farmers and Monsanto staff who saw it.
The four defendants due to appear in court tomorrow are art teacher Jill Bee, campaigner Martin Shaw, trainee teacher Alex Potts and unemployed Rod Melia.
Monsanto initially obtained its injunction against five women who uprooted a crop of GM oilseed rape last year at Model Farm, Watlington, near Oxford.
The injunction restrains the defendants from uprooting, interfering or damaging Monsantos plants or encouraging or conspiring with others to do so.
It was extended in September 1998 to include a sixth person, Andrew Wood, who is the spokesman for Genetix Snowball and other members of the organisation.
Genetix Snowball claims it is uncertain whether the participants in the Cereals 99 action are included in the Monsanto injunction.
Although they are not named on the injunction, the judge may decide that they breached it if he rules that they are members of Genetix Snowball.
The injunction defines a member as “any person who actively supports that organisation or who campaigns on that organisations authority or behalf”.
A Monsanto spokesman said the company was “legally obliged to notify the Court of breaches of the existing injunction and, with reluctance, it has done so.”