Scoop Feedback: Readers On Corngate

Tuesday, 16 July 2002, 11:00 am
Opinion: Scoop Feedback

In This Issue: Hard News and the Greens - - Defective operating techniques give false negatives - To Russell Brown, food for thought - Re: Keith Rankin: The Campaign We Didn't Need

Hard News and the Greens

Dear Editor,

It is a sign of Russell Brown's good nature that he still has any expectation that the Green Party leadership will show the slightest degree of responsibility or integrity over the GE issue in general and Nicky Hager's conspiracy theory in particular.

He must have surely realised by now that the anti-GE campaign of the Greens has been typified from the very start by a such a disregard for scientific evidence that their intentions could never have been other than to scare the public into adopting their view. In no way can the Greens be regarded as contributing anything towards intelligent debate on GE issues.

Their rush to embrace Nicky Hager's bizarre attack on the Labour Party and on scientists involved in bio-security is just one more example of how low the Greens will go.

regards Neil Morrison

GE testing info - defective operating techniques give false negatives - NZ clinical analyst condemns NZ defective testing of GE cont seed shipments from US rejected by Japan

Analysis of foodstuffs for GM content - and this includes ship consignments - is alive and well elsewhere, if not in NZ - shipments of US soybeans and other foodstuffs are being refused by Japan because the "negative" results are wrong. Defective operator performance from US grain handlers and exporters, (probably also of Australia) giving a high rate of false negatives using a "strip test" method has been reported in The International Journal of Food Science and Technology. These mistakes are the result of using "cheap, untrained personnel" as Joan Cameron retired clinical analyst, of Waikane and current member of Analytical Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) and Association of Clincial Biochemists (UK) with 50 years practical and theoretical experience in field of analytical chemistry explains in an article.

In an article in Pacific World in Sept 01, pg 23, Dr Cameron stated that to insist that analysis of GM foodstuffs cannot be done well enough for New Zealand to use, indicates a "very sad low level of knowledge and understanding of analytical science." It condemns NZ to being a mere recipient of whatever someone else likes to unload on us.

In the June 2001 issue of Pacific World there was another article by Pat Clark - NZ at risk from GM - pgs 9-15. This covered seed contamination through imports from US in some detail. It also included a 1 and half page print out of Bas Walker's evidence to the Royal Commission on GM about this, where he says that testing can only give 99% assurance that any contamination is less than 0.5% and that extrapolating out from this this means that at the level of 0.5% contamination, then up to 175 thousand seeds may be contaminated in any consignment tested and this almost certainly means that GM plants have been growing in NZ in recent years. This is exactly what he said to the RC. However, it's based on NZ not getting the right tests done, as stated above. Unfortunately the Commission accepted this defective knowledge as fact.

Kay Weir, Editor Pacific Ecologist - formerly Pacific World

To Russell Brown, food for thought

Hi Russell,

Do you think that the officials can categorically say that there was no GE corn imported? To me, that is the important question.

You say that Russell Poulter said "there was no reliable evidence of GM seed presence" but surely we are looking to see that there is evidence that there is no GE, and if they cannot say that, we should import it from else where? If in doubt chuck it out.

Nat

Re: Keith Rankin: The Campaign We Didn't Need

Why is release of GE important?

There is news today that women have an increased chance of life threatening illness with HRT that uses an estrogen that appears to be very similar to human estrogen(itself complicated) but the "progesterone" is modified presumably to be able to be patented for profit.

This is an example of the reason that GM is feared- apparently minor changes can have devastating effects in some people- not all. The medical profession and scientists do not now pick up that many chronic illnesses are simply due to the total environment, in some a genetic intolerance (like us), and to the changes in food preparation, commercial and domestic, the increase of toxic materials used, and the use of pesticides having a minor effect becoming serious in the long term.

The pesticides on veges limit my use of sprayed veges compared with unsprayed. I don’t want any more problems in choosing my food due to GE Our family has suffered major limitation to our enjoyment of life due to following the nutrition establishment advice- Science can’t look after us yet

YOU DONT PUT KEROSENE IN YOUR CAR BECAUSE ITS A GOOD BUY. -THEN WONDER WHY PROBLEMS OCCUR YOU USE THE PRESCRIBED FUEL

A great number of social issues would be absent if peoples minds worked properly- crime is directly related to hypoglcaemia in many criminals, a direct food issue, eventually becoming diabetes

I believe DOC try to ensure genetic diversity in their breeding if possible GE scientists have no way of predicting how any GE modification will affect the complex of living things.

Agree "am very concerned at the reticence of the public to assert its substantial collective equity in our global capitalist economy. Yet trying to get people to openly debate issues relating to public property rights is extremely difficult."

Marie Lockie

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