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MADGE 'Copy in' Minister to Trace and Label GM Food
MADGE 'Copy in' Minister to Trace and Label GM Food.
New Zealand's Minister of Health would be doing the
right thing for public health and the integrity of the food
system by voting for labelling of GM foods, when she attends
a trans-Tasman council meeting on Friday.(1)
That's
the message from MADGE Australia, to Minister Kate
Wilkinson, saying 90% of people want full labelling of GM
ingredients. The call comes almost a decade after MadGE in
New Zealand, led by Alannah Currie became a
culturally-defining movement for a GE-Free New Zealand
backed by leading chefs, actors, musicians, celebrities and
artists.
The Australian campaign urges State
Ministers of Health to support GM labelling to give
consumers the right to know if GM-foods like soy oil are
being used. The New Zealand Minister Kate Wilkinson sits on
the same Council and is copied in on the email message.
"There is wide public support for GM-foods to be
labelled. New Zealand should support food standards based on
traceability and the right of consumers to avoid
GM-ingredients," says Jon Carapiet, spokesman for GE-Free NZ
in food and environment.
"The Health Ministers are
being asked to support the precautionary approach of
tracing, monitoring and labelling foods from GM organisms
which is central to the integrity of the food system."
Unfortunately New Zealand Minister Kate Wilkinson has
backed the latest approval of 2,4-D-GM maize into the food
supply, without testing its potential effects and without
requiring all derived ingredients to be labelled.
The
benefits of labelling all GM-foods can no longer be ignored
as a basic food safety measure that benefits New Zealand
exporters and consumers worldwide.
The New Zealand
government previously undermined the rights of its own
consumers by opting out of Country of Origin Labelling
(CoOL) introduced by the Australian States. Labelling of GM
foods is the least it could do.
ENDS
1) http://www.madge.org.au
The Food
Regulation Ministerial Council will meet to decide which of
the Blewett Report's Food Labelling
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