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Zero Tolerence
For GE In NZ
by Alan Marston
Those who stand to profit from GE technology
applied to animals and plants
know that New Zealand is the circuit breaker for their global
ambitions.
Once again (votes for women, welfare state, buggarising of state
assets,
nuclear power) New Zealanders have thrust this small country onto
the front
of the world political-economic stage. If nothing else, we Kiwis
have and
hopefully will continue to box above our weight in the global
arena and
(apart from being buggered by Rogernomics) knock-out yet another
state-corporate bully and their inflated greed. Hopefully. Because
right
now there is a battle going on within New Zealand as to which
side we box
for and the likes of Monsanto have filled their gloves with money
and are
swinging wildly in the media-circus. Do you need anymore metaphors,
do I
need to paint the picture even more clearly? I hope not, because
there is
no time for anything but commited action.
Labour ministers and the Greens met late into last night trying
to reach
agreement on the future of genetic engineering (GE) in New Zealand.
The
meeting was just two weeks before the Government's October 31
deadline
to work through the recommendations of a royal commission on GE.
The world
first $6.2 million commission ignored 98% of respondents who opposed
release of GE organisms into the environment and instead backed
a strong
government role in the technology, recommending the first application
for
release of a GE crop be decided by the environment minister as
a political
decision, rather than regulators. The only political party to
represent the
massive majority against GE food in NZ, the Greens, want a GE-free
New
Zealand and are hard at work trying to convince the Government
of the
benefits of that. They can't do it with nifty turns-of-phrase.
Greens
co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons is adamant those who oppose a GENZ
are not
seeking an extension of the GE moratorium, we want a GE-free New
Zealand,
not a ``pathetic maybe we will maybe we won't'' half-way move
which allowed
some trials, as was the case under the moratorium. ``We are asking
for a
decision that New Zealand should market itself as a GE-free country
and get
all the economic benefits that go with that.''
Added to the pressure are Maori voters. The Labour-Alliance Government
is
planning a two-year compulsory freeze on GE field trials to appease
the
Green Party and head off a threatened revolt by its own Maori
MPs. The
Maori MPs met on Tuesday night to discuss their concerns that
senior
ministers were leaning towards decisions in line with the report
of the
Royal Commission. The Government is to announce its decision by
October 30.
A committee of senior ministers will consider the issue again
next Thursday
and the Cabinet is likely to approve the decision on October 29.
Do we wait and hope? That would be a mistake in my opinion. The
Nazi Joseph
Goebbels' line on propaganda, if you're going to lie, make it
a big one, is
being applied to New Zealand's political environment, and it can't
be
ignored. The massive contradiction that Monsanto supporters make
that if
New Zealand like other countries, becomes a grower of GE crops
and animals,
it will be good for the economy, does not even meet the basic
criteria of
logic. Needless to day it takes only a child's mind to see King
Science has
sold its clothes to corporates and is standing naked in the face
of the
observation that if New Zealand was different to every other country
in
being GE Free we would have a unique position in global food markets.
Clean
Green GE Free Organic NZ = $$$$$ The thing is, they wouldn't be
Monsanto
dollars and that's what this is all about.
Goodness gracious! Even boring old Sir Geoffrey Palm-me-off has
put his
name to a report saying, in essence, that the purveyors of GE
organisms
must be liable for bad outcomes - effectively putting the economic
kaibosh
on GE food and trials. Unfortunately Greens co-leader Jeanette
Fitzsimons
said: "However, if the Government does decide to go ahead with
releases or
field trials, it is very important that there should be strict
liability
and compulsory insurance. "I think of instances like a farmer
whose
livelihood might be seriously affected if he or she lost organic
certification as a result of contamination by GM plants, seeds,
pollen or
whatever." Without strict liability laws and compulsory insurance,
"people
introducing the organisms would have no great incentive to take
all
possible steps to make them safe. This keeps the industry as honest
as you
can."
Jeanette would have to say that, but not being beholden to voters,
I don't.
I don't believe those who have conducted the campaign for GE are
or ever
can be honest. There is no room for compromise on this issue,
once GE
organisms are out of the lab, we're stuffed, there is no going
back, no
negotiation no meeting in the middle - its all over for organic
exports.
The only attitude that works against GE in our environment is
zero tolerence.
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