Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 3:27 pm Press Release: Green Party
Like watching a Greek a tragedy ...
Watching the NOOM Bill
proceeding through Parliament has been like watching a Greek
tragedy unfold, Green Co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said
today.
"The characters have been blindly following their
predetermined paths without realising the awful destiny
awaiting them.
"The audience can only watch and warn, to
no avail. But the real tragedy is that the audience, in this
case the New Zealand public, will be dramatically affected
by the consequences when GE goes wrong."
The New Organisms
and Other Matters Bill, which provides for the conditional
release of GE organisms once the moratorium lifts, is due to
have its third reading later today.
"In persisting with
the legislative mechanisms to enable GE releases into the
environment, the Government has missed the key point. The
fight against GE will not be over when the moratorium lifts
on October 29," Ms Fitzsimons said.
"The Green Party will
continue to expose the truth about GE. We will continue to
challenge the GE regulator ERMA (the Environmental Risk
Management Authority) to do its job.
"We will oppose every
release and bring the best scientific evidence to the
hearings. We will highlight the stories of GE failures
overseas."
The Greens succeeded in making the only
substantial change to the NOOM Bill. ERMA now has to
consider the economic costs of any application to release GE
into the environment, not just the economic
benefits.
"This is an important step forward, as we know
from overseas experience that the economic costs of GE
release can be very high," Ms Fitzsimons said.
Jeanette is
due to give a speech on the NOOM Bill in the House today at
5.30pm.
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