I’ve seen a lot of really crappy TV programmes about GMOs over the years. I’ve read so-called ‘news’ stories that were blatantly re-written press releases, and so essentially advertisements for the biotech industry. My expectations of the media in this regard, are now so low I can’t usually be surprised. But watching the BBC Panorama […]
I had a great time in Berlin at the recent GMO Free Regions conference this month. I was there representing my campaigning group Beyond GM. Participants from political circles, economists, scientists and civil society from all over Europe, as well as guests from America, Asia and Africa met and had many discussions and workshops about building […]
We were fortunate enough at Beyond GM to facilitate the press launch of the book Altered Genes, Twisted Truth.
The book is written by US attorney Steven Druker and features a foreword by the renowned primatologist Dame Jane Goodall (pictured with myself and colleague Fran Price, left).
The book is the result of more than 15 years of intensive research and investigation by Druker stands as an important history lesson in GMOs. Druker, came to prominence for initiating a lawsuit against the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that forced it to divulge its files on GM foods. Those files revealed that GM foods first achieved commercialisation in 1992 only because the FDA:
Covered up the extensive warnings of its own scientists about their dangers.
Lied about the facts.
And then violated federal food safety law by permitting these foods to be marketed without having been proven safe through standard testing.
You can read more about the event and the book on the Beyond GM site.
It was public pressure which kept GMOs out of the UK in the late nineties. In the last decade, however, the issue has slipped off the public, media and political agenda. Now with the stakes higher than ever, how do we reach out to the general public and mobilise them to speak out before it’s too late. In this session, Beyond GM’s, Pat Thomas, GM Freeze’s, Liz O’Neill and GEN’s, Jim McNulty, join chair, Francesca Price, to discuss GM campaigning in 2014. What can each of us do to keep GM out of the UK? Hitting home the message: Peter Kindersley will highlight the key issues about GM and alternatives that citizens need to know and show how he is getting the message to his customers.
I’ll also be chairing a session on the New Science of GMOs as well. Hope to see you there!
More in Sorrow Than in Anger: Resignation Fom the Soil Association
On November 18th four of us – Joanna Blythman, Lynda Brown, Andrew Whitley and myself – resigned as trustees of the Soil Association.
We expect fellow members of the Soil Association will wonder why. In a democratic organisation they certainly have a right to be told without delay.
Below is an edited version of our resignation letter and a shortened summary of the concerns which led to our collective action, following a vote by a majority of the Soil Association Council not to hold an emergency meeting to address the issues.
A longer account of our concerns is available, should Soil Association members or the wider community wish to read it.
We think that the organic approach to food and farming is ecologically coherent, humane, scientifically responsible and potent and we remain committed supporters of the organisation’s founding purposes. We hope that our action stimulates thought about how the Soil Association might campaign most effectively for the adoption of organic ideas in order to build a healthy society from the ground up.
Additional statement from me: As a long-time supporter of the Soil Association, resignation was a terrible choice to contemplate and one that left me feeling as if I had let down those members who had voted me onto Council in the first place.
It was not a decison taken lightly. However, I remain resolute in my belief that the organisation has lost its way, has lost its unique voice in the food and farming landscape and has largely abandoned ‘organic’ in both the philosophical and practical sense of the word, in order to be part of an already overcrowded field of ‘healthy eating’ charities.
This abandonment comes at a moment in time when well-articulated alternatives to the industrial model of food production are so urgently needed. Will anyone thank the Soil Association for this in 20 years’ time? I doubt it.
At the recent launch of the new campaigning initiative Beyond GM at the London Seed Festival I was interviewed by a colleague from my Ecologist days, Phil Moore for his new project Permaculture People
You can listen to the short interview which covers, GMOs, seed sovereignty, activism, people power and the power of hope at this link.
When it comes to GMOs, 57 million Americans can’t be wrong.
I was so proud to see the launch of the new Beyond GM initiative The Letter from America.
The fully referenced letter, signed by groups and individuals representing some 57 million Americans was is a powerfully written plea for us in the UK and the rest of Europe to learn from America’s mistakes and not to go down the route of planting GMO crops.
Diana Reeves, Pamm Larry and myself in front of Beyond GM’s giant video billboard in Waterloo station.
It was signed by celebrities such as Susan Sarandon, Daryl Hannah, Frances Fisher, by activists like Robert Kennedy Jr, by the renown environmentalist Wendell Berry, by big environmental NGOs like the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth, by consumer groups like the Organic Consumers Association, by progressive groups like MoveOn, Care2 and Corporate Responsibility International, by health groups like the Physicians for Social Responsibility and Healthcare Without Harm, by organic businesses like NYR Organic (Neal’s Yard Remedies’ US arm) and Nutiva, and many, many more.
It was taken to Number 10 Downing St and then launched to the wider world as a full page ad in the Times newspaper and as an amazing digital billboard – seen by hundreds of thousands of commuters at London Waterloo – Europe’s busiest railway station.
It was featured in, amongst others, the Daily Mail, the Guardian, the Express and the Metro. The BBC World Service broadcast it to millions. Our partners in the US sent it out to their millions of members and followers too.
Thanks go to Pamm Larry of Label GMOS and Diana Reeves of GMO Free USA who helped drive the letter in the US. It was great to have them here for the launch.
Now that the letter is open to all US citizens to sign more than 10,000 have done so. In the UK citizens are sending it to their MPs starting a conversation that has been had in this country for many years. All in all it was a good week.
And we launched with a bang at London’s Garden Museum where we welcomed over 130 people through the doors of The Garden Museum on the evening of Friday October 10 to eat, drink, watch and ask questions about GMOs, seed sovereignty and the future of food.
The evening marked the official launch of the Beyond GM campaign as well as the beginning of The Great Seed Festival and was so well attended, that many people ended up standing in order to view the documentary.
The American film, which scooped the best documentary feature film at the recent 24th Annual Environmental Media Association Awards in California, follows a father of three, Jeremy Siefert, as he travels across the US trying to find answers to his questions about genetically modified food.
Siefert’s honest and very human approach to this complex subject is what makes the film so appealing and by the end of the evening it was clear it had resonated with many people in the audience who also have concerns.
The film sparked a variety of interesting questions and comments from the audience, which stayed behind to take part in the panel discussion, chaired by myself, joined by fellow campaign director, Lawrence Woodward; farmer and founder of the CSA Chagfood in Chagford, Devon, Ed Hamer; and organic entrepreneur and founder of Jo Wood Organics, Jo Wood.
Although the evening focused on a serious subject, there was still time for a few drinks, a delicious organic buffet courtesy of chef Sylvain Jamois and good deal of banter. While everyone expected to learn something, many commented that they hadn’t expected to have such an enjoyable time doing so.
The sense of community and open, engaged inquiry ran right through the whole of the London Seeds Festival, which attracted a varied and lively number of visitors over the weekend and following week.
Beyond GM will be hosting more events like this so watch this space!
If you want to keep GMOs out of the UK, here’s where to begin… GMOs have been with us for nearly 20 years. In the early 90s a very visible public and media campaign helped keep them out of our fields and off our plates in the UK and the rest of Europe. But that […]
I am a huge fan of comedy satire show The Daily Show with Jon Stewart… …so imagine my surprise as I was watching tonight and Jon Stewart held up one of my kids books in the opening bit of the show. In one of those delightful moments that life occasionally throws up, the Daily Show ran a […]
I am an award-winning campaigner, journalist and author. A former editor of the Ecologist magazine Pat has run campaigns for Paul McCartney’s Meat-Free Monday, Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) and Neal’s Yard Remedies. In 2011, my work leading the campaign, Cows Belong in Fields, won CIWF the Observer Ethical Award for Campaigner of the Year. In 2014 I co-founded the campaigning group, Beyond GM.
I am a qualified psychotherapist and the author more than 40 books for adults and children and I was inducted into Who’s Who in 2014. In addition to my work with Beyond GM, I work occasionally with the film production company Ecostorm. I also currently edit and oversee NYR Natural News – a campaigning natural health website, continue to write in a freelance capacity and make regular public speaking and media appearances.
I have been a trustee of both the Soil Association and the Organic Research Centre in the UK and am currently on the advisory board of GMO Free USA and am a trustee of the investigative media agency, Eyewitness.
To read more about me see here.
Contact Pat
Skype: patti.t16
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Projects, Consultancies and Public Speaking
I am interested in and available for short- and long-term projects/consultancies, and am particularly keen on those that focus on food, sustainability and culture change. I am also an experienced public speaker.
My unique professional experience means I bring a variety of skills to any work I do, including effective and persuasive communication and writing skills, an holistic perspective on sustainability and change, and both intuitive and analytical ability. I am well known in my field and comfortable working in most fora.
Recent projects/consultancies include work with: Stella McCartney ‘Care’ range, Paul McCartney’s Meat Free Monday, Friends of the Earth, Compassion in World Farming, Soil Association, Neal’s Yard Remedies.
Recent public speaking engagements: UK Aware, Oxford University PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) Society, Durham Union Society (Durham University), Bristol Festival of Nature, World Preservation Foundation, Women’s Institute.
I'm a highly experienced journalist and award winning campaigner specialising in environment and alternative health. I'm also the author of several books for adults and children and a qualified psychotherapist.
