1.Arrested! Anti-GM protest picnic pics
2.GM Potato Protesters in Court in Cambridge
3.EU mashes GM potato plan
BASF's Amflora off the menu

NOTE: More pics from the Cambridge GM potato protest at http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/07/374877.html

and
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/07/374920.html

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1.Arrested! Anti-GM protest picnic pics
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/07/374889.html

Sunday July 1st. Anti-GM campaigns take protest direct to test site in Girton near Cambridge. One protester is arrested scaling the fence erected to protect the GM potato crop and another is arrested later on for alleged criminal damage.

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2.GM Potato Protesters in Court in Cambridge
Court Potato / 02.07.2007 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/07/374947.html

Two people were arrested yesterday at the GM Potato Protest in between Histon and Girton. They will be appearing at Cambridge Magistrates Court, which is now at 43 Hauxton Road, Trumpington, at 9:30 tomorrow (Tuesday 3rd July) morning.

It would be great if as many people as possible could make it down there to show their solidarity with the people concerned. It can make a big difference to people in court to feel they're not alone.

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3.EU mashes GM potato plan
BASF's Amflora off the menu
By Lester Haines
The Register, 2nd July 2007
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/02/gm_spud_mashed/

The European Union's Council of Ministers last week delivered a serious blow to biotech companies' ambitions to roll out GM crops across the region by postponing a decision on the "commercial optimisation" of BASF's Amflora "genetically optimised potato".

According to the Telegraph, the German EU presidency canned a European Commission proposal to release the Amflora - developed by BASF for "use in industrial starch" - when it became clear that "a bloc of countries led by Austria, Greece, and Luxembourg would vote against it".

The decision was made ahead of last week's Europe's environment ministers' shindig. Although the EU lifted a moratorium on the commercial exploitation of GM crops 2004, none have been cleared for cultivation since 1998.

An official said: "It became clear that there was no way to get a majority for the first approval of a GM crop since 1998, so it has been taken off the agenda." A Brussels mandarin added: "Nine years after the moratorium we do not look any closer to authorising new GM crops for harvesting."

Greenpeace said of the announcement: "Consumers, most of whom have no desire to eat GM produce, expect politicians to put their health, food, safety, and the environment before the vested interests of a few agro-chemical companies."

BASF has stood by the safety of the Amflora spud, citing the European Food Standards Authority which has "repeatedly stated that Amflora is for humans, animals and the environment as safe as any conventional potato".

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