Trust The GE Science – Whose?

19 September

Whose science do we trust? Experimental trials of genetically engineered (GE) organisms showing failure, or the industry science spin, massaging out the failures and pretending all is fine. Science and Technology Minister Judith Collins has directed the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) to remove the ethical and precautionary approach from the proposed updated GE Bill. Furthermore, she has used the Resource Management Act to prevent local councils from declaring their right to have GE Free regions.

“By removing the ethical and precautionary approach, this allows the Bio-tech developers to ignore the proper scientific process,” said Claire Bleakley. “It allows the release of patented, dangerous, polluting GE organisms into the farming and horticultural environment, failing New Zealand’s primary industries.”

Ethical and precautionary legislation on GE organisms is in place to demonstrate the safety of New Zealand food production. This legislation was accepted by the National Government in 1996, after the Environment Minister Simon Upton had assisted with writing the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act. The HSNO Act clearly set out the safety conditions that need to be met before release. This legislation never banned outdoor field tests of GMOs.

Since 1996 there have been 13 GE field trials in NZ. All of these trials were contained and monitored. Such field trials come before a conditional release. If these trials had demonstrated that the GMOs were safe for the environment and economic livelihoods, a full release an application would have been submitted. As the field trials never showed the GMOs to grow well, or to be safe, they never progressed further. The failures of these GE field trials have been hushed up and the Government is pretending that all is well.

New Zealand Crown Research Institutes (Crop and Food, AgResearch and Scion ) received public and private funding to trial GE plants and animals. To date, all have been many breaches and GE crop commercial failures. Some of these failures include the GE Brassica plants (Crop and Food) that went to flower and had a fungal disease. Flowering was not permitted in the conditions of this trial, as GE pollen could easily cross-pollinate nearby non-GE Brassica plants. Conditions of the trial were breached and the surrounding growers and seed producers were put at risk. The trial was closed down.

We cannot rely on the Ruakura Animal Ethics Committee (RAEC). They turned a blind eye to animal cruelty with AgResearch GE animals. The RAEC saw the animals suffer from high spontaneous abortion rates and sterility. There were also life-threatening deformities in calves. Surrogate mother cows had a 0-7% birth rate, with many calves, goats and lambs dying within 48 hours of being born.

AgResearch GE ryegrass was trialled in the USA, (2018-2022), at a cost of $25 million. This ryegrass resulted in poor yields, failing to meet the projected outcomes. It is now being grown in a laboratory, which does not replicate environmental conditions.

All of the trials were to involve feeding trials as well, but due to poor outcomes, it appears that feeding trials have not been conducted. Can we trust assurances of safety by the Crown Research Institute (CRI) product developers, who get funding by the biotechnology industry?

Collins blames “restrictive rules and time-consuming processes” and she is following “global best practice.” This directly contradicts the “best practice” that we currently have in the HSNO Act.

“We cannot trust the Government’s talk of “global best practice,” as it will mean unregulated release of GMOs and corporate capture. Removing all protection and safety rules does not mean GE is suddenly safe,” said Bleakley “It is incomprehensible that the Government is ignoring the NZ field trial science that has shown GE will fail New Zealand. The government is jumping on a broken bandwagon and the costs will be worn by the farmer and processor.”

New Zealand’s regenerative organic and conventional horticultural and agricultural sectors grow products that are of the highest quality, GE-free and internationally sought after. It is their duty to ensure that GE-free production, public participation, and challenge are preserved.

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