Answers Wanted Over Suspected Hidden Agenda
Answers Wanted Over Suspected Hidden Agenda As Human-Cow GE Application "Disappears"
GE-Free NZ supporters are
demanding bureaucrats and government ministers explain why
records relating to a major GE experiment have disappeared
from the internet.
They are concerned that the sudden and
secret withdrawal of an application for a major Genetic
Engineering project signals a hidden agenda or political
pressure to block public debate of the research.
The
application has literally disappeared from the ERMA website,
but existing hard-copies of the application reveal that it
included disposing of GM animal waste by spraying waste over
the fields, burying dead animals rather than incineration,
and
selling meat from cows carrying the GE foetuses into
the normal food chain.
ERMA have issued a memo that
AgResearch has withdrawn its application GMD01194 and that
ERMA will not take the application any further. ERMA’s
methodology is also under review at present including its
public consultation processes.
" It seems suspicious to
suddenly have this application disappear. It has been
notified and
submissions received. It is in the public
interest that the issues be debated," said Jon Carapiet of
GE-Free NZ ( In Food and Environment).
"We are demanding
an explanation. ERMA and government officials need to show
us that political pressure or a hidden agenda is not
operating to avoid public debate of important
questions."
It is especially suspicious as the Select
Committee report on the HSNO amendment Bill now before
parliament allowed the experiment an exemption to the new
rules.
" The exemption allowed by the Select Committee
must not be an excuse to avoid attempts at safety and
containment protocols now being introduced. The
whole
thing is so secretive that it is no wonder the
concerned public smell a rat."
There is also concern that
AgResearch has indicated that it may submit an application
some time in the future for the same or similar to GMD01194.
"The public want to know the answer to the question - is
this kind of experimentation good for New Zealand? And we
need to know now" said
Jon.
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