Commission fails on the GE issue

Auckland, Monday 31 July. Greenpeace is very disappointed today by the report of the Royal Commission on Genetic Engineering.

“More and more cases around the world are showing that field trials cannot be contained and GE contamination is inevitable. The Commission has expressed the desire to have GE, conventional, Integrated Pest Management and organic systems together. That is simply not possible,” said Annette Cotter, Greenpeace campaigner.

“The report has also failed to reflect tangata whenua concerns, or strong public sentiment towards a GE free NZ,” said Ms Cotter. Ninety two percent of the 11 000 public submissions to the Commission were opposed to GE in the environment.

“While the Commission has recognised the scientific uncertainties of GE, Greenpeace believes the Commission has failed to adequately apply the precautionary principle which is at the core of the issue. This means that their assessment of GE is fundamentally flawed.

“This may go some way to explaining why, in the body of their report they say that “Little is yet known about the environmental impacts of genetically modified organisms, and in particular in New Zealand ‘on the potential adverse effects, or risks of such effects, on the indigenous biota’” (Ch 6, p 142), yet their recommendations do not fully reflect these concerns.

“The release of GE into the environment is now a political decision, and the Labour Government will have to make that decision with public opinion front of mind,” said Ms Cotter.

Contact: Annette Cotter, Greenpeace NZ. Ph 09 630 6317 or 021 565 175

© Scoop Media

Greenpeace

Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice.

Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.

CONTACT GREENPEACE

• Email - info@greenpeace.org.nz
• Facebook
• Twitter - @GreenpeaceNZ

• Website - www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand
• Google+
• YouTube

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>