Posted on 8-5-2003
NZ
Govt Shafts Greens Over GE
The Green Party is angry the Government has so blatantly and
deviously
referred the Bill governing GE release to a select committee
with no Green
MPs, Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said today.
The Government is so embarrassed about the lack of any sound
case for
releasing genetic engineering into the environment that they
cant bear to
face up to a Green on the committee,Ms Fitzsimons said. They
dont want
anyone putting up the scientific case for the alternative view.
The New
Organisms and Other Matters Bill establishes a regulatory regime
for GE
release once the October moratorium expires. It was last night
referred to
Parliaments education and science committee for closer scrutiny.
This deceitfully closes the door on expertise from the Greens,
on a Bill
that - lets face it - will have major impacts on our environment
and our
claims as a nation to being clean and green,Ms Fitzsimons said.
In her
speech to the House last night, Ms Fitzsimons pointed out key
deficiencies
in the Bill. These include the Governments claim that the Bill
implements
the Royal Commission report, when in fact it ignores numerous
important
recommendations.
The reality is that no business case has been made for GE. The
Government
hasn't solved the co-existence problem, that is, the fact that
GE and
non-GE crops can only coexist if contamination is accepted.
And the
liability arrangements for when GE goes wrong are entirely inadequate,Ms
Fitzsimons said. The Bill also allows for conditional release,
which is a
sneaky way of approving release into the environment of GE organisms
that
cant meet the stricter standards for general release. The Government
has
admitted that the conditions imposed on conditional releaseswill
sometimes
fail, and there wont be any liability for that failure,Ms Fitzsimons
said.
This Bill represents another takeover of New Zealand by a few
corporates
and individuals who want to get very rich at public expense.
In the future,
we will look back on this Bill as treason, and the Government
will be held
to account.
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