GE-Free New Zealand(RAGE)Inc
In food and environment

PO Box 693 Nelson Tel. 03 546 5035 Fax. 03 546 5036 email. gefree@ts.co.nz
Website: www.rage.org.nz

National Spokesperson Mary Anne Howard-Clarke. Tel. 04 589 1125 Cell. 021 674 966
Nelson Susie Lees. Tel. 03 546 7966
Auckland Rosanne Bush. Tel. 09 426 2699
Hastings Marion Thomson. Tel. 06 875 1219

10 April 2000

Food not included in Royal Commission on Genetic Engineering!

The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into genetic engineering will not, it seems, include any focus on genetically engineered food. Apparently New Zealand’s international trade obligations are the reason.

GE-Free NZ finds the government's apparent refusal to include food within the Terms of Reference wholly unacceptable. Could it be they are scared there may be something wrong with GE food after all?
GE-Free NZ demands that any RCI should include a detailed independent assessment into the safety of GE food regardless of anti-democratic World Trade Organisation (WTO) rulings.

Regulatory agencies approving these foods worldwide make assumptions of its safety, often taking into account prior approvals by the FDA (Food and Drugs Administration). However the FDA has been shown to have ignored and concealed safety concerns contained in documents produced for them by scientists evaluating GE foods.

The government, to the potential detriment of public health, is ignoring the risks of allergenic reactions, an increase in new pathogens and further antibiotic resistance (considered by the British Medical Association as being one of the biggest risks to 21st Century medicine). A lack of independent assessment of any health risks will result in our unwillingly being party to a genetic experiment.

The government must take all necessary actions to determine the safety of genetically engineered foods, thereby protecting the New Zealand public, rather than bowing to pressure from the biotech companies, their political lackeys and bureaucrat cronies at the WTO and FDA.

The new government’s integrity and credibility is on the line. Are the politicians poised to fail the New Zealand populace yet again?

ENDS

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