Fri, 17 Sep 2004

Greens launch GE-Free card campaign

The Green Party has launched the first three cards in a series designed to give the public the opportunity keep the 'GE-Free' pressure on the Government and other decisionmakers.

The cards are available both as printed postcards and as e-cards to send electronically from the Greens' website - www.greens.org.nz/ge.

The first questions why MON863, a GE corn variety shown to cause abnormalities in rats and turned down for approval by a French scientific committee, has been cleared for human consumption in New Zealand. The card asks Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) to reassess the corn.

The second asks the Prime Minister why the Government is prepared to imperil our food, wine and tourism industries by allowing the release of GE. The risk was recently demonstrated when European importers cancelled significant orders of Thai papaya after crops of the fruit were widely contaminated by a GE field trail.

The third is part of a challenge to local bodies to support initiatives to protect landowners, the ecology and the economy of their regions from the release of GE organisms. The card asks candidates in the local body elections starting this weekend why their regions can't join the many others around the world declaring GE-Free Zones.

ENDS

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