Posted on 9-10-2003
Hang
On Helen
The call for New Zealand to keep GE organisms in the laboratory
becomes
more tuneful this week as some of the country’s top singers
and musicians
give voice to a postcard campaign asking Prime Minister Helen
Clark to
‘Hang On Helen’ and not lift the moratorium on the release of
GE crops.
Organised by the econation2020 Trust, New Zealanders are being
offered a
chance to receive a free CD, featuring top Kiwi acts, if they
send a
postcard to the PM saying ‘Hang On Helen’. This initiative asks
the Prime
Minister to ‘hang on’ for five more years before lifting the
moratorium on
the release of genetically engineered crops. All concerned citizens
and
music lovers are invited to claim a free CD and get your message
to the
Prime Minister’s office. The user friendly 2-fold postcards
are included in
copies of this week’s NZ Listener and Cuisine magazines, and
can also be
downloaded from www.econation2020.org.nz
The 170,000 postcards have been issued in both direct-to-subscribers
as
well as on-the-shelf issues of the NZ Listener that went on
sale Sunday
October 5, and also in all subscriber copies of Cuisine magazine.
Readers
simply tear off a pre-paid, pre-addressed section of the postcard,
sign it
and drop it into the post to the PM. Then, by tearing off and
sending the
bottom half of the same postcard, also pre-paid to econation2020,
participants stand to receive one of the 5000 free ‘Hang On
Helen’ CD’s.
econation2020 Executive Director Brendan Hoare said the initiative
was
aimed at those who felt frustrated about the politicised nature
of GE
issue, but who shared econation2020’s vision for GE-free, sustainable,
pure, clean and green New Zealand. "It’s our intention that
this initiative
be a spirited expression of culture," he said. "The majority
of New
Zealanders don’t want the moratorium lifted. We want the government
to know
it’s OK to do what the people want on this issue maintain
the
moratorium." The artists featured on the CD had contributed
to the project
by donating their music; "the depth of feeling and passion for
protecting
our clean, green image amongst the artists took us by surprise,
it’s an
extremely diverse compilation representing the groundswell of
opposition
right across the music community", said Kim Hegan, Executive
Producer of
‘Hang on Helen’ CD & Trustee, econation2020. Artists involved
include:
Mahinarangi Tocker, Nesian Mystic, Rubicon, Verse Two, Debbie
Harwood,
Rikki Morris, Che Fu, Darcy Clay, Moana (Please refer to full
track listing
attached).
‘Hang On Helen’, campaign is proudly supported by Gold Sponsor
ecostore, Auckland-based retailer & distributor to supermarkets
and
healthy lifestyle stores throughout NZ. Malcolm Rands, director
of ecostore
said, "ecostore is a company that invests strongly in R &
D. We know that
there is so much work to be done in safe bio-science. NZ could
become a
world center of excellence and have the right sort of scientists
coming to
work here from around the world. New Zealand, the home of safe
bio-science!" he concluded. This is a viewpoint passionately
shared by Hang
On Helen campaign Silver Sponsor, Living Nature, ecostore supplier
and a
market leader in the production of 100% pure precious NZ plants
and honeys
blended to create healthy synthetic-free skin care. For further
information:
Diana Goulding MediaMix 09 307 8864 or 021 33 11 03
Brendan
Hoare, Executive Director, econation2020 Trust 025 2888 618
Kim Hegan
econation2020 Trust 021 276 9666
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