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Action alert against Sainsbury's GM Milk - email the top people!

Narwal | 23.11.2004 12:19 | Bio-technology

Please distribute on any anti-GM list or otherwise you may be a member of. Sainsburys need to know just how much the public in the UK are against their policies.

Action Alert Against Sainsburys' GM fed milk products

Activists in the UK have done phenomenally well when it comes to keeping genetically modified products out of Britain. The battle for public opinion has been won to the point were the average person on the street distrusts anything to do with GM. Multinationals such as Bayer and Syngenta have taken the hint to get out of the market while the going is good. And the demand for a proper organic alternative is on the up.

And now the biggest hurdle (though not the only one) in the way is Sainsburys who are trying to circumvent all our victories by bringing GM in through the back door. Sainsbury’s own milk brand is produced from cattle fed on GM feed especially imported for them.

Mmmh… GM products coming into the UK! We don’t think so. It’s time to get ethical on this complacent company and take action to make them change their policies. Below is a list of contact details for the top people in Sainsburys, numbers to ring and fax, emails to send polite messages of encouragement and addresses to voice your disapproval.

The demand is simple stop using genetically modified food to feed the cattle used to produce their milk. They have the power to do this.

You may ask will they listen – well, actually we think that they are. Already there is an ongoing campaign that has got them worried. This is a company losing its market share and also suffering instability at the top with significant changes in senior management. On their website, the only press releases not about their financial and managerial situation, are those about the campaign against their GM tainted milk.

This is a company in a lot of trouble as it is, and the last thing they need is the mass of public opinion against them or activists doing their thing in numbers.

Why should you care? – Because, we do not want GM products coming into this country, let alone contaminating the food chain. Despite all their promises there is no guarantee that the feed will not contaminate other foods and fields. By accepting this back route of allowing GM into the country at all, it sends out the wrong message that there are ways around the campaigns and public opinion that could undo all our good work on this issue. And it sends a message to producers around the world that there are ways of pushing their GM poison on us. The door has to be firmly closed.

So it does not matter where you come from on this issue, from vegans to meat-eaters, whether you are pro-countryside or dislike farmers for abusing their cattle, this is a point of principle. Sainsburys are vulnerable and showing it. They are also one of the most important players in encouraging the importing of GM products into the UK. If we want to keep GM out of the UK, then Sainsburys need to see the light regardless of what your think of them or the farmers.

So, if you cant join the other wonderful activists demonstrating against Sainsburys on a regular basis, there is always something you can do to take action. Turn on the computer, pick up that phone, sharpen those pencils and start contacting them now. Remind them just how successful a movement they are up against….

Sainsburys Corporate Headquarters
33 Holborn, London, EC1N 2HT
Freephones
0500 405 060
0800 636 262
0800 0154 330

Switchboard 020 7695 6000

Fax:
020 7695 6227
020 7695 7162
020 7695 7610

Email:

productvinehelp@sainsburys.co.uk,

investor@sainsburys.co.uk

Below are the emails, and in some cases other contact details for many of the top people at Sainsburys. Why not drop them a polite message explaining to them directly the pitfalls of Sainsburys’ using GM to produce milk. (Don’t worry – there are plenty more where these came from)

Justin King - Chief Executive -

justin.king@sainsburys.co.uk

Philip Hamilton – Chairman -

philip.hamilton@sainsburys.co.uk

Ian Merton - Director of Fresh Food -

ian.merton@sainsburys.co.uk

Jon Arnold - Head of Dairy -

jon.arnold@sainsburys.co.uk
His assistant/deputy is Mark O'Hanlon Tel: 020 7695 5281

Stephen Nelson - Marketing Director -

stephen.nelson@sainsburys.co.uk
His PA is Tina Prescott -

tina.prescott@sainsburys.co.uk

Mike Coupe - Trading Director -

mike.coupe@sainsburys.co.uk

Roger Matthews - Finance Director -

roger.matthews@sainsburys.co.uk
His PA is Michelle - Tel/Fax - 020 7695 6025

Tim Pile - CEO of Sainsburys Bank
Email

tim.pile@sainsburys.co.uk, Mob 07813 833 789

Jim McCarthy - Convenience Stores Director -

jim.mccarthy@sainsburys.co.uk

Lawrence Christensen - Suppy Chain Director -

lawrence.christensen@sainsburys.co.uk
His PA is Debbie Stapley - Tel 01256 605 573, Email

debbie.stapley@sainsburys.co.uk
Basingstoke Distribution Centre Houndmills Industrial Estate, Basingstoke RG21 6XW

Gywn Burr - Customer Services Director -

gwyn.burr@sainsburys.co.uk

Hamish Elvidge - Change Director -

hamish.elvidge@sainsburys.co.uk

John Adshead - Human Resources Director -

john.adshead@sainsburys.co.uk

Mark Anderson - Head of Portfolio Asset Management
Tel 020 7695 7148, Email

mark.anderson@sainsburys.co.uk

Sarah Trowbridge - Retail Support Manager -

sarah.trowbridge@sainsburys.co.uk

Keith Evans - Head of Non-Food Ranges -

keith.evans@sainsburys.co.uk

Rachel Turner - Regional Sourcing Manager -

rachel.turner@sainsburys.co.uk

Terry Robins - Packaging Innovations Manager -

terry.robins@sainsburys.co.uk

Lynda Ashton – Head of Investor Relations
Email

lynda.ashton@sainsburys.co.uk, Mob: 07775 816 547, Tel: 020 7965 7162

Jan Shawe - Head of Corporate Communications -

jan.shawe@sainsburys.co.uk

Chris Templeman - Head of Development for London & SE Region
Email

chris.templeman@sainsburys.co.uk, Mob 07836 239 176

Yvonne West – Head of Business Direct
Tel 020 7695 0070, Fax 020 7695 6988, Email:

yvonne.west@sainsburys.co.uk

Kate Arthur - Sainsbury's nutritionist -

kate.arthur@sainsburys.co.uk

Save time by sending the above a message all at once – simply copy and paste the following list of emails into the To or CC row of your email programme.

productvinehelp@sainsburys.co.uk,

investor@sainsburys.co.uk,

justin.king@sainsburys.co.uk,

philip.hamilton@sainsburys.co.uk,

ian.merton@sainsburys.co.uk,

jon.arnold@sainsburys.co.uk,

stephen.nelson@sainsburys.co.uk,

tina.prescott@sainsburys.co.uk,

mike.coupe@sainsburys.co.uk,

roger.matthews@sainsburys.co.uk,

tim.pile@sainsburys.co.uk,

jim.mccarthy@sainsburys.co.uk,

lawrence.christensen@sainsburys.co.uk,

debbie.stapley@sainsburys.co.uk,

gwyn.burr@sainsburys.co.uk,

hamish.elvidge@sainsburys.co.uk,

john.adshead@sainsburys.co.uk,

mark.anderson@sainsburys.co.uk,

sarah.trowbridge@sainsburys.co.uk,

keith.evans@sainsburys.co.uk,

rachel.turner@sainsburys.co.uk,

terry.robins@sainsburys.co.uk,

lynda.ashton@sainsburys.co.uk,

jan.shawe@sainsburys.co.uk,

chris.templeman@sainsburys.co.uk,

yvonne.west@sainsburys.co.uk,

kate.arthur@sainsburys.co.uk

DISCLAIMER
Nothing in this email action alert is for the purpose of inciting illegal behaviour. Please be polite, be nice and listen to what your MPs tell you. For more information check out one of the many anti-genetically modified food sites available on the Internet.

Narwal
e-mail: narwalsts@fadmail.com

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

my email

23.11.2004 13:26

The following addresses no longer work...

terry.robins@sainsburys.co.uk

rachel.turner@sainsburys.co.uk

keith.evans@sainsburys.co.uk

philip.hamilton@sainsburys.co.uk

Jan.Shawe@sainsburys.co.uk

here is the email I sent...

Hi,

In the last couple of weeks Bayer Crop Science has pulled the last 2 crop varieties from the national seed list process (thats now all of the original 58 ge crop varieties destined for commercial growing in the UK, all pulled). The anti-ge campaign has kicked both Monsanto and Bayers arse and now it's turned it's eyes on sainsburys as one of the last major markets for imported ge crops. While sainsbury continues to use ge fed dairy products, activists will continue to plague sainsbury - whether with electronic campaigns, sticker campaigns, banner drops or store invasions. And no doubt there are plans a foot to play havoc with sainsbury distribution points - very effective in the past and very very costly to sainsbury operations. so i was just writing to say... please don't drop ge crops from your dairy supply, it's so nice to have a campaign against sainsbury that is so easy to get people behind.

enjoy

no gm - smash sainsbury

hang on

23.11.2004 20:56

It's ok for cows to suffer horrendous conditions as long as they're not fed GM food?

For gods sake, talk about missing the point. The whole animal farming industry is incredibly cruel. Why not try doing something about that?

I dont give two fucks for Sainsbury's or any other supermarket - I do care about the other creatures that inhabit the world with us. surely we should spend our time trying to improve their lot?

Become vegan! If everybody did this on compassionate act and stick to it then there would be no GM milk

moo

cow friend

hang on - the whole point...

24.11.2004 00:22

hang on hang on.

for me, the whole point of this campaign and the amazing actions that have happened is not to make people buy different milk, but to smash GM.

We've pushed out all but one GM trial.
We've pushed companies out of Britain too.
We've had a global effect with our anti-GM campaigning. But still there's huge amounts of GM grown in some countries. The only thing that makes this economically viable is that it's all fed to cows as GM-animal feed.

If we stop this in the UK, we push the GM industry world-wide into a corner. It would have a huge huge global effect, not just for the GM industry, but against the whole megamachine. It's all about strategy, not milk, for me.

vegan

I am also uncomfortable with this campaign

24.11.2004 14:28

I know that a lot of vegans are involved in this campaign for tactical reasons, but I am very unhappy with it. It seems to be promoting meat and dairy. First, there was the alliance between anti-gm activists and dairy farmers - I think that that was totally unacceptable. This has tainted the whole campaign. There are the banners at anti-gm protests that say things like "a fair price for non-gm milk!" - need i say more? Then there are the articles in anti-gm publications as well as the mainstream media which moan about how poor non-gm farmers aren't making enough money out of exploiting animals. They are trying to label non-gm milk and meat as good, and opposed to gm meat and milk which are bad. As a person who feels very strongly that both gm and none gm animal products are unethical, I will not support a campaign which presents any animal products as being desirable.

I think that whoever decided to form an alliance with dairy famers made a very bad mistake. It was immoral, completely unecessary, and has even been to our tactical disadvantage as they have proved to be a security weakness, telling everyone about upcoming blockades.

Arp

gm milk & cows

24.11.2004 22:05

The author of the action alert is a vegan activist and she too has the ethical qualms raised by other commentators here. Never the less, she and others decided to become involved for the tactical reasons to ensure that no GM makes it into this country after all the other successes campaigners have had.

Certainly, she would be the last person to ever co-operate with the dairy farmers! However, that some people chose to go down this route, does not affect the overall aim of the campaign which still stand irrespective of whether the farmers get involved or not.

The action alert doesnt validate drinking cows milk, but cows are not the only animals affected by GM crops in this scenario; the inconsistancy abates when one looks at a wider picture.

Secondly at the end of the day, it is important that GM is stopped, and unfortunately life is not that perfect that we can campaign as if we already live in a utopia. Everything involves compromise to some degree, and that compromise does not invalidate our entire system.

So there is no reason why people cannot promote veganism and also send a message to Sainsbury's to stay out of GM.

Narwal

exactly

25.11.2004 12:07

That is the whole issue for me too. The way the publicity has been handled definitely gives the impression that dairy and meat eating is ok as long as it non-gm. I am very uncomfortable with the banners that say a fair a price for milk etc... The real price of milk is being paid for in fields and sheds by the cows.