2 April 2002
National MP Marie Hasler has criticised Prime Minister Helen Clark for implying bungy-jumping is unsafe.
"Helen Clark says she has never been attracted to bungy-jumping and that 'I don't want a detached retina or anything
like that for election year.'*
"In fact eye specialists say there is absolutely no evidence to back up this damaging urban myth. The co-founder and
owner of A J Hackett, Henry Van Asch, says that his company administers 50,000 jumps a year and he has never heard of
detached retinas.
"Comments such as this, without facts to back them up, are damaging and misleading to our tourism industry," says Ms
Hasler.
Ends