Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons will continue her nation-wide speaking tour on GE tonight in Nelson.

The public meeting is the next stop in a 30 meeting tour by Ms Fitzsimons and Green MPs Ian Ewen-Street and Sue Kedgley; part of a campaign to keep the New Zealand environment free of GE organisms.

Her speech will focus on evidence heard by the Royal Commission into Genetic Modification and on the decision that the Government now has to take for New Zealand's future.

"The two meetings I've spoken at so far there has been a great response, with people really interested to hear what's been happening at the Commission and to participate in our campaign to keep the country GE-Free.

"93,000 people called for this Commission when they signed my petition in 1999. They have a right to a report on what happened, and after six months attending hearings regularly I have collected a fund of interesting stories to tell them.

"Part of the purpose of the meetings is to encourage people to let the Government know what they want for the future, as once the Commission reports back on the 27th July, the decision will be in the Government's hands.

"This is a political decision, make no mistake, and business and research institutes are lobbying as hard as they can to make sure it goes their way. The public has to make sure their voices are heard too."

Ms Fitzsimons said evidence to the Commission from many prestigious scientists demonstrated that the science is unpredictable and the release of genetically engineered organisms is irreversible.

"New Zealand doesn't need to take that kind of risk - because we have a ready-made market with our clean green niche."

"It's also important to realise that being GE-Free means that scientific research and laboratory uses of genetic engineering can continue inside a contained laboratory," she said.

Ends

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