Beware the purveyors of ignorance

The public should fear the misinformation and distortions of some anti-GM activists much more than GE itself, the Chairman of the New Zealand Life Sciences Network (Inc), Dr William Rolleston, said today.

“The Greens are playing on people’s fears to pursue a political agenda. Having failed to convince the Royal Commission that they were right they have now turned to ordinary New Zealanders and are cynically trying to manipulate them.

“The Royal Commission spent many months closely examining all the evidence the Greens could muster from around the world and then said we should proceed cautiously with GM on a case by case basis. The Royal Commission said the risks can be assessed and managed.

“The Greens couldn’t persuade the Royal Commission they asked for. Now they seek to persuade the public with misinformation and outright distortion.

“This is not democracy, this is a small minority trying to impose their ideas on the rest of us.

“We all have the right to choose. Making a choice does not give us the right to stop someone else making a legitimate choice for themselves. There is no factual or scientific basis for the assertion that GM can’t co-exist with other types of agriculture in New Zealand – to say otherwise is to lie,” concluded Dr Rolleston.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

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>>