Public Majority Supporting A GE Free New Zealand Face Attacks From Prime
Minister
Shameful comments by our prime minister, describing majority public opinion
as extremism and according to National radio comparing the public to the
Taleban, show the lengths that the minority Labour government is prepared to
go to shore up their Crown Research Institutes.
CRI's research, 60% of which is paid for by public funds, is purported to be
the finest in the world, but fails to benefit the average kiwi, research
hijacked by corporate sponsors paying the remainder of research costs, and
any profits sidelined into stand alone companies. The dearth of investment
in biotechnology, as a result of consumer resistance worldwide, has resulted
in research institutes being propped up by public funds. The CRI's, at
present the only NZ institutions carrying out GE field trials, are doing so
without liability insurance, if adverse effects arise the public must sue.
"To cast the public majority in the guise of extremists is unacceptable," said
Susie Lees of GE Free New Zealand, "it is the government who may well be
guilty of criminal negligence, and government ministers and regulatory
agencies who should be held personally accountable for any and all adverse
impacts."
The public pay for this research, and the monitoring of trials, for which
there are no foolproof strategies or proper procedures yet identified, and
any resulting impacts will be 'socialised". Insurance companies will
apparently touch neither liability nor any policy to protect against adverse
effects. If our economy suffers the public will be hit yet again. UK studies
have found that even land prices fall if GE crops are grown. The public will
be subjected to all this and publicly funded pro GE education too, possibly
as past history shows, courtesy of Monsanto.
Apparently developed by pro-biotech corporations, the spin, appears to have
been adopted by government and opposes New Zealand's democratic process and
our rights to freedom of speech. The tactics have been used in the US where
the term "ecoterror" is in vogue among industry apologists. A backdrop of
internet surveillance, FBI monitoring, and inflammatory phone calls from
both the police and biotechnology advocates has become evident in the US,
and NZ GE Free supporters already are subjected to cases of email
interception and Echelon ID's.
For more information: Susie Lees 03 546 7966
Please note: GE Free New Zealand has never advocated its members have any involvement in direct action other than
through channels open to public, for example, the RCI and submission processes to ANZFA and ERMA. It mails newsletters
quarterly to around 3,500 people from all walks of life, around New Zealand and its main objective is to stop the use
genetic engineering technology in food and the environment.