Acclaimer

This handbook intends to warn people of the likely results of a dangerous technology that has grown up too fast and is being used irresponsibly to produce genetically engineered crops which are not needed and which are a bio-hazard - a threat to human health and to the Earth.

There is a desperate need for citizens to slam on the brakes of this runaway experiment before it's too late. In the face of all responsibility being waived by those in a position to wield it, the responsibility falls on each one of us. We are therefore inviting people to join together to take nonviolent action by safely pulling up genetically engineered crops; to carry out their action openly and to inform the local Environment Agency of the location of the contaminated plants so that they can be destroyed safely without causing any further harm. In the spirit of democracy we are asking people who take part in the genetiX snowball to be prepared to take the consequences of their nonviolent action. We call on those who have embarked on this genetix experiment to stop. We call on those who have allowed it to happen to do at least five years of checking on whether we really need genetically engineered crops and if so, whether they are really safe to grow.

You may be reading this because you want to take part in an action or because you want to help support one. This handbook is an attempt to put together the information you'll need to participate in genetiX snowball, at whatever level feels right for you and your circumstances. Due to time and resource constraints it cannot hope to cover everything in as much detail as we would like; there will probably be some errors - please let us know of mistakes so we can amend the second edition. If you would like more in depth information please refer to the appendix which also has lists of further reading.

We have shamelessly copied and borrowed from other peoples' work without asking them, so as to protect them from possible prosecution. We hope they won't mind. The responsibility for writing and publishing this handbook lies entirely with genetiX snowball. Feel free to reproduce any or all of it without asking us, but please credit us.


September 1998


Further copies of this handbook can be obtained from:

genetiX snowball, One World Centre, 6 Mount Street, Manchester, M2 5NS.
Phone: 0161 834 0295. Fax: 0161 834 8187. E-mail: genetixsnowball@orangenet.co.uk