Posted on 8-7-2003

Pizza On Face Is GE
(Photo shows Marion Hobbs)

New Zealand Government Environment Minister Marion Hobbs is furious at the
anti-GE implications of the GE corn in Japanese Pizza, ie. she is losing
her cool in direct proportion to losing the argument for lifting the
moratorium on release of GE organisms into NZ's environment.

Hobb's tone is full of desperation, exasperation and frustration, its
unlikely she'll be able to hear public opinion anytime soon unless that
public opinion is louder than the sound of her own pounding heart and
shout-down voice. The Minister for Environmental Security has been lumbered
with carrying that terrible burden of the human condition, security. Its an
unfair burden to have to carry alone, but then fair politics is an oxymoron
and Cabinets are all about finding a Minister to cut loose when making a
forced 180 degree turn. No wonder Marion is mad, her heads on the block if
the moratorium has to stay, and it does have to stay. Helen of Sandringham
has never hesitated to wield the axe.

Looking at the argument's for a moment, which are of illustrative interest
only compared to shifts in power, Ms Hobbs has attempted to separate the
latest corn contamination discovery from the Government's intention to lift
the moratorium on GE release in four months time. The argument is
nonsensical, not that that matters much, but lets look at it anyway. In
the New Zealand Herald, Hobbs said that the case had nothing to do with the
moratorium and wouldn't give her sleepless nights. Steve Abel from
Greenpeace's responded "This contamination is a wake up call to Ms Hobbs
and has got everything to do with the moratorium. Once you release GE into
the environment it spreads in unpredictable and uncontrollable ways. MAF
are still baffled as to how this has happened and that is exactly why GE
should be kept in the lab. "New Zealand is the most export dependent
economy in the OECD - so it is disastrous news for our multi billion
dollar clean green brand. This contamination wasn't discovered in New
Zealand, but turned up on a pizza in Japan. The government may think it's
alright to ignore its own people's preference for being GE free, but to
ignore crucial markets like Japan who are demanding GE free produce is
economic suicide," Concluded Mr Abel.

Greenpeace would say that? Yeah, they would, and have. Thing is, how many
others are saying exactly the same thing?

To ge or not to ge, that is the question... and we all know what happened
to Hamlet and his support group.