Posted on 30-5-2003

GM Moratorium Lifting Opposed


Newsroom reports that Radio New Zealand says the Rural Women New Zealand
organisation is opposed to the Government lifting its moratorium on genetic
modification in October.

Rural Women says it wants the hold on the release of genetically modified
products kept in place until a robust biotechnology strategy has been
developed. The president, Ellen Ramsay, told the Rural Women Conference the
strategy currently proposed does not cover the concerns of its members and
is not strong enough to manage the potential consequences of early GM
release. She says the Rural Women's organisation is concerned with the
sustainability of rural communities environmentally, economically and
socially and genetic modification has major implications across all those
areas.

Ms Ramsay says it would not be responsible to lift the restrictions on GM
release when the proposed strategy is too weak to be effective.