Media Release
12 September 2003
NZ First Amendment Retains Moratorium On GE Food
New Zealand First has today submitted an amendment to the New Organisms and Other Matters Bill which, if passed, will
effectively retain the moratorium on release of GE food until 2005.
“It was New Zealand First which ensured the moratorium was put in place and we said at the time that we would reassess
the situation when it came to its expiry date,” said spokesperson, Brian Donnelly.
“Our objective assessment is that it is too soon to lift the moratorium on GE foodstuffs and we continue to have
concerns over economic risks, driven by consumer perceptions of health dangers of GE foods. As a nation critically
dependent on the export of foodstuffs, New Zealand must have an extremely rigorous risk management process around
organisms that might enter the human food chain.
“New Zealand First has a policy to proceed with extreme caution and ERMA has not demonstrated that it has the
wherewithal to assess macroeconomic risks of release of GE foodstuffs,” said Mr Donnelly.
ENDS