Posted on 6-3-2003
Govt
Should Fund Organics
Dr Martina Newell-McGloughlin of Davis pharmaceuticals recently
hosted by
the US embassy told of the effects of the green revolution having
resulted
in denuded and nutritionally depleted foods due to chemical
pesticides,
herbicides and radiation techniques. All these techniques have
now so
degraded our food supply that additives are becoming essential
to ensure
our nutritional needs are met. This recognition by a leading
researcher is
insightful. GE FREE NZ believes that GE solutions will further
exacerbate
these problems, despite claims that GE will be used to boost
nutrients.
Claire Bleakley of GE Free (NZ) said " Safe and sustainable
agricultural
solutions such as integrated pest management (IPM) and organic
farming
options need research funding, especially for New Zealand, and
the
opportunity for its clean green image uncontaminated by GMO's.
Scientists
are recommending that these proven methods should be funded
yet government
is not listening."
Entitled "Biotechnology: Promise or Peril?", Dr Martina Newell-McGloughlin
of spoke of GE work her company was undertaking, advocating
the need to
eat safe nutritional food to stay healthy, she alluded to seed
production
processes eg.radiation as well as chemical overuse having destroyed
minerals and vitamins in natural healthy food, yet overlooked
organic
growing as a means of ensuring adequate quantities.
She admitted that there had been no safety tests considering
the health
implications or pathogens created by the GE process. When questioned
over
the "pharming " of vaccines in crops she said that "Even one
seed in 10,000
was too large a risk if it got into the food chain, discussing
also the
problem of gene spread, recognising that pollen would outcross
easily and
be uncontrollable. GE "pharmplants" should be grown in "covered
containment
facilities" she said.
This concern is ironic given a Rangiora farmers statement that
he intends
to offer his land for Pharming experiments. "Although this was
an industry
talk to promote her company in NZ," said Claire Bleakley of
GE Free NZ in
Food and Environment, "the speaker revealed the urgent need
for greater
informed debate on the benefits and risks to the New Zealand
environment
and its economy ". "The NSW government are joining Tasmania
and other
states moving to ban commercial GE food crops for three to five
years . Why
is New Zealand going in the opposite direction?"
Media Contact Claire Bleakley 06 3089842 Jon Carapiet 09 815
3370
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