MEDIA RELEASE
Oxford Friends of the Earth, c/o 13 Princes Street, Oxford. OX4 1DD. 	
Tel. 01865 203 015
Web: www.oxfoe.co.uk
	
Immediate release 3 November 2003
 
Oxfordshire County Council takes steps to become a GM-Free local authority

Oxfordshire County Council voted for a motion on Tuesday 3 November that called 
on national Government to abandon plans for commercial growing of genetically 
modified crops in the UK [1]. The Council also ordered an urgent investigate of 
legal means to stop the commercial growing of GM crops in Oxfordshire [2]. The 
motion followed a call by Oxfordshire farmers, beekeepers, women’s groups and 
the general public for the use of European Union legislation to protect 
Oxfordshire from commercial GM growing, as well as other GM-Free policies. 

The adopted motion was proposed by Councillor Anne Purse with a series of 
amendments by Councillor Craig Simmons to strengthen it. Members of all parties 
voted for the motion by 40 votes to 9. The motion stopped short of adopting 
many of the policies needed by a GM-Free local authority. Specifically the 
motion did not require new leases for the County Council’s few tenant farmers 
to exclude growing GM crops. The Council also failed to adopt GM-Free policies 
in its provision of services generally e.g. catering in care homes. However it 
decided to ‘take all reasonable steps to keep school meals free of genetically 
modified food’.

The Council was presented with over a hundred letters from Oxfordshire farmers 
and growers at its meeting which called for the growing of GM crops in 
Oxfordshire to be prohibited. Oxfordshire farmer Charles Bennett from Sandy 
Lane Farm near Thame presented them. The Council also heard evidence of the 
adverse effects of GM crops on North American farmers from Hugh Warwick, an 
independent journalist and Oxford resident who wrote the Soils Association’s 
report ‘Seeds of Doubt’. 

Andrew Wood, Food Campaigner for Oxford Friends of the Earth said
"There was a fair amount of GM fudge in the adopted motion but the Council is 
taking positive steps. We’ll see if its concern is backed up with real action 
in the next few weeks and months. Other Councils are protecting their Counties 
from commercial GM growing, Oxfordshire needs to follow their example as soon 
as possible."[3]

ENDS

Contact Andrew Wood, Oxford Friends of the Earth: 01865 203 015

Editors Notes
[1] The full Council meeting of 70 Councillors last all day. For the text of 
the adopted motion see www.oxfoe.co.uk 
[2] Under EU legislation (article 19 of EU directive 2001/18/EC), geographic 
areas may be exempted from the commercial growing of GM crops. Companies 
breaking the licensing conditions may face legal prosecution.
[3] See www.gmfreebritain.com for details of the GM-Free local authorities.