Posted on 13-7-2002

Political Bomb GExplodes
Intro by Alan Marston

Whether Nicky Hagar's book `Seeds of Mistrust' contains political dynamite
or sawdust is up to how it reacts with the consciousness of New Zealanders.
If it proves to be dynamite then in the presence of an explosion sane
people run in the opposite direction. Then the problem is, where is it safe
to run to?

Article I from GE-Free New Zealand (in food and environment)

The decision by the government to allow GE-contaminated maize to planted in
New Zealand shows an alarming level of duplicity and further undermines
public confidence in the government policy on GM bio-security.

GE-Free New Zealand (in food and environment) are demanding a public
inquiry to investigate the incident that occured during the Royal
Commission's voluntary-moratorium period. The investigation should include
the role of vested interests from the biotechnology industry in pressuring
government to accept the contaminated seed. The contamination is a wake-up
call to regulators and the public that New Zealand cannot afford to drop
its standards for bio-security and zero-tolerance for GE contamination if
we want to protect our economy. "If you find a fire in your kitchen, you
don't let the whole house burn down. You put the fire out and prevent it
from doing more damage," said Jon Carapiet, a spokesperson from GE-Free New
Zealand (in food and environment). "Unfortunately it seems that in the case
of this GE-contaminated seed, the government decided to let the fire burn,
because it was commercially more convenient than stopping it."

Claims by author Nicky Hager in a new book " Seeds of Distrust" indicate
that Minister Marion Hobbs knowingly allowed GM-contaminated maize to be
planted in Hawkes Bay, Gisborne and Marlborough. The book also claims the
board of the Environmental Risk Management Authority, (ERMA) were not told
about the decision to allow the plantings till after it was made. The
author highlights an internal ERMA memo saying it was still not too late to
pull out the crops and inform the public of the accident. "GE-Free New
Zealand (in food and environment) have challenged Marion Hobbs on this
issue before, and have had our concerns dismissed. For years we have been
pleading for MAF to test all potentially-contaminated batches of seed,
especially maize," said Mr Carapiet.

The GM-contaminated crop may have contaminated other farms -conventional
and organic- but these have not even been tested. The Liability issue must
be resolved, but the government should immediately move to fund this
testing. They should also fund testing and decontamination of the
GE-Tamarillo field trial in Northland, about which even the Royal
Commission on GM backed public concern.

Pressure from the biotechnology industry to turn a blind eye to the
contaminated seed and allow it into our fields must also be investigated.
There may be a hidden agenda to force countries to accept contamination by
GM so that they have no option but allow GE food and crops that have been
mixed into the mainstream non-GE food systems. "If this is the case, it is
unethical and will deny all people the right to avoid GE-food. It is not
just a safety issue. People do not want to be forced to eat GE food for
many different reasons including safety, diet, cultural tradition, ethical
values, and religious belief, " said Mr Carapiet. "Biotech industry
lobby-groups like The Life Sciences Network are claiming the contamination
has no proven
health or safety implications. Where is their evidence, and why are they
not concerned about this basic breakdown in regulation and its potential to
damage our economy? They seem to believe that because importation of
illegal organisms- including GM organisms- cannot be completely stopped
-New Zealand shouldn't bother with strict biosecurity measures. We
disagree," said Mr Carapiet.


Article II from Greenpeace

Wednesday 10 July, 2002, Auckland: The cover-up exposed today in Seeds of
Distrust is an outrage. This illegal, dishonest and unacceptable series of
events resulted in the contamination of our sweetcorn and environment,
Greenpeace said today.

A committee of the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA), the
Ministry for Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF), big business and the
Government conspired to keep crucial information from the public. “The
Government is guilty of lying to the public about GE contaminated
sweetcorn, and refusing to rectify the situation by removing the crop. For
all their cautious words, they have actively allowed a release of GE corn
into our environment. This shows the collusion of big business and the
Labour Government and it’s pro-GE agenda,” said Annette Cotter, Genetic
Engineering campaigner today. “The Government knowingly allowed GE
contaminated seeds to be planted here during it’s own Royal Commission of
Inquiry into Genetic Engineering. The Government has misled the Royal
Commission. If they’d been honest to the Inquiry, the Report may have been
very different. This revelation makes a mockery of that whole process. “To
add insult to injury, ERMA assisted the Government in the cover-up by
withholding critical information from the public during the Royal
Commission. “ERMA is a body that is touted as being the most stringent in
the world. Now they’ve allowed GE to be grown illegally. ERMA clearly
cannot be trusted.”

Seeds of Distrust raises more serious questions about our biosecurity.
“What else has been contaminated? Is this season’s corn contaminated with
GE?” said Cotter. “Urgent action is needed to address this crisis. The
Government must act immediately to ensure New Zealand’s biosecurity has a
regime of zero tolerance to GE contamination. The crop sites must be
immediately decontaminated. Every seed shipment that comes into the country
must be tested for GE contamination,” said Cotter. “The revelation of GE
contamination revealed today is not a justification for saying it’s all too
late and that New Zealand should accept GE. The Government must take every
possible action to eradicate this contamination and ensure a GE Free
future,” Cotter concluded.