GE crop concerns at Oamaru Organics Festival

Media Release – March 10, 2004
GE crop concerns a key issue at Oamaru Organics Festival forum

New Zealand should fully understand the grave financial and ongoing concerns facing the looming GE issue, former Crop and Research scientist Elvira Dommisse said today.

Ms Dommisse said she was worried about the willingness of the government to approve the release of GE crops when the country had a ``lot to lose and little to gain’’.

``The GE onions to be field-tested in Lincoln later this year are being tested for a total of ten years. The cost of this project is in excess of $1.5 million.

``All this is to be spent on a GE crop for which there is no market, given that our onion export markets, Japan, the E.U and the UK, do not want GE onions.

``The majority of New Zealanders would also choose not to eat GE onions, if opinion polls are anything to go by,’’ she said.

Ms Dommisse is a guest speaker at the Oamaru Organics Festival on March 21. Oamaru has become recognised as the organics capital of New Zealand and their organics festival attracts significant national and international media interest each year.

Ms Dommisse said she wanted government to explain why they were risking losing New Zealand’s clean, green, and safe-food image by growing GE crops when it could lose key international markets because of its pro-GE approach.

``The majority of New Zealanders are opposed to such a strategy.

``And why allow the inclusion of GE corn, canola and soy products in food imported into New Zealand (as is already the case) when there have been no independent studies carried out on human populations to say that GE food is safe.’’

To date, research carried out by independent scientists, not funded by any biotechnology company, has shown that the health of rats fed on diets of GE food crops has suffered considerably compared with those fed on the same non-GE food crop.

Ms Dommissee’s speech to the March 21 festival will look at problems that have come about as a result of the widespread growing of GE crops. She will also talk about "biopharming", the growth of food crops containing drugs, vaccines and medicinal proteins.

New Zealand has an international reputation for exporting safe food of the highest quality and Ms Dommisse worked for Crop and Food at Lincoln from 1985-1993. She was a research scientist to initially work on cell and tissue culture of onions and garlic. She set up the GE onion project, essentially single-handedly. She left with reservations about the safety aspect of aspects of genetic engineering.

Next week’s Oamaru festival will feature organic food, organic wine and beer along with education, entertainment, arts and crafts.

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