New Seed Security Measures a Boon For NZ Farming

Monday, 4 October 2004, 12:49 am
Press Release: GE Free NZ

Mon, 4 Oct 2004

GE Free NZ in food and environment welcomes and applauds the innovative techniques developed by Pacific Seed to protect New Zealand farmers from accidental GEcontamination in seeds.

The development of pre-testing protocols is a major advance in biosecurity and protection of New Zealand's GE_free producstion capacity as it helps ensure that the level of contamination in at-risk crops like maize, remains at zero for this season.

Pacific Seeds practice will preserve New Zealand's producstion of uncontaminated food for our local an international markets and is a challenge to inadequate policies promoted by MAF that would have put our exports at risk by accepting contamination as inevitable..

"It is now the responsibilty of MAF to maintain 'zero tolerance' through testing of imported seeds and to hold companies liable if they that fail to adopt this innovation", says Jon Carapiet spokesman for GE Free NZ in food and envionment.

"It is pleasing to see that the precautionary principle is being taken seriously by our government," says Claire Bleakley , president of GE Free (NZ) in food and environment

"This means that New Zealand's export markets can be assured and our Clean Green image preserved for another year. With this new protocol now developed , anything less than full compliance will clearly constitute negligence or economic sabotage".

ENDS

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