Source: The Independent Author: Kate Watson-Smyth Contact: Website: http://www.independent.co.uk/ Pubdate: 20 Mar 1998 RODDICK SOWS SEEDS OF DISSENT THE Body Shop yesterday launched a new range of products made from Cannabis Sativa, or industrial hemp, and immediately came under attack from the campaigners who embarrassed McDonald's last year in England's longest libel case. Dave Morris, one of the "McLibel" two, will today lead a picket on the Body Shop's Oxford Street store in London, handing out leaflets accusing Anita Roddick's shops of damaging the environment and the world's poor, despite the company's claims to the contrary. He and other members of the London Greenpeace anarchist group, an independent organisation not connected with the international environmental campaign, claim that Body Shop is an example of "green consumerism" which is no better than other consumerism. The leaflet, headed "What's wrong with the Body Shop", says: "The world's problems will only be tackled by curbing such consumerism - one of the fundamental causes of world poverty, environmental destruction and social alienation." It also airs criticisms about the "naturalness" of Body Shop products, its animal testing policy and its attitudes to trade unions. A spokeswoman yesterday dismissed the accusations, which she said were first made four years ago and had already been rebutted. "While we are not the perfect company, we don't test on animals, we do trade beneficially with indigenous peoples, we act to limit environmental impact and we respect the human rights of our staff," she said. Earlier, Ms Roddick, the founder of the company, was accused of "making a joke of drug-taking" as she handed out cannabis seeds to launch the new range of moisturising products made from hemp. Ann Widdecombe, a former Home Office minister, said Ms Roddick was being "wholly irresponsible" by introducing the products because they are made from the Cannabis Sativa plant. In reply, Ms Roddick said: "With all the current problems our farmers face I'd expect political leaders like you to support hemp-growing." Ms Roddick handed out the seeds but warned that anyone planting them would be breaking the law and could be arrested. It can be grown only with a licence from the Home Office. The industrial hemp plant contains only a fraction of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, but the two plants are from the same family and growing hemp could lead to prosecution under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act. However, the seed packets come with the warning: "Do not attempt to use the plant as a narcotic. You would need to smoke a joint the size of a telegraph pole to get high." Hemp was one of the most environmentally friendly, easily grown and versatile natural products, Ms Roddick said, but it had been the subject of a smear campaign because of its association with the drugs culture: "Ignorance confuses hemp with marijuana, a member of the same plant genus." She added that she would be backing British growers for more freedom to cultivate the product and for more European subsidy.