This is the moment we could lose our clean-green, GMO-free New Zealand for ever.

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Our government is attempting to push through a Bill that would deregulate Genetically Engineered Food. It has been recommended by the Select Committee on Health and is up for its second reading. 15,000 New Zealanders took the trouble to submit on this Bill. 97% of them were against it.  Yet the coalition government pushes on.

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There have been no long term toxicology studies on GE food and no assurance can be given that it is safe.  Those studies we have are mostly on animals and show toxic effects on liver, kidneys, pancreas and the reproductive system.

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If this Bill goes through then not only will our food be contaminated. New Zealand will also lose its much envied GE Free status  and will also lose billions of dollars in exports to countries that value wholesome food.

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Please read my submission on the Bill. It's a bit technical at the beginning but gets easier as you go along. Or just read the bullet points below:

 

Write to your MP now! Your message does not need to be detailed.  Just a one sentence expression of concern about any of the list below is enough. Every voice counts.

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Feel free to pick one or two or all of the following and express the ideas in your own words:

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• I have a right to know what I am eating.  This Bill removes labelling.

• ​How do I know GE foods are safe? There have been no long term toxicity studies.

• I object to being expected to eat food which has not been tested as carefully as a new drug would be.

• Animal toxicity studies show toxic effects on liver, kidneys, pancreas and the reproductive system.​

• NZ will lose its GE Free status for ever and lose billions of dollars in exports.

• Gene editing is not the same as plant or animal breeding. It crashes through the boundaries and controls present in nature.​

• It is no comfort to me that GE foods have been sold in the United States for the last 30 years. Americans' health has nose-dived in the last 30 years with an epidemic of obesity and diabetes and alarming rates of heart disease, asthma, new allergies, cancer, autism and ADHD. Many people in America are dealing with multiple chronic conditions: 42% have two or more, and 12% have at least five. We would be crazy to follow the USA.​

• Inserting new code into the DNA code of a food plant or animal has been compared to “taking a snippet of code from the program in a toaster oven and splicing it into an aeroplane guidance system - and yet assuming that nothing will be disturbed.” ​​

• It scares me that even the most expert operator in gene technology has as little ability to predict the effect of his changes to the genetic code as a meteorologist has in predicting whether a particular day in Wellington three months hence will be fine or a devastating cyclone.  ​

• I do not believe that gene technology is “imitating nature with great precision” as is often claimed. Documented off target effects in animals occur. (see my submission for this example and more: "the aim was to produce fast-growing “superpigs” the novel creatures did not grow faster than their parental stock; but they did grow a lot weirder. One female was born absent an anus - and also without vagina. Several of the others were too lethargic to stand up. Additional afflictions included arthritis, enlarged hearts, ulcers, dermatitis, kidney disease, and impaired vision. And because their immune systems were dysfunctional, they were prone to pneumonia.")​​

• I am aware that human disasters associated with gene editing have occurred including the tryptophan disaster, and the 2006 phase I clinical study conducted for a CD28 superagonist antibody TGN1412 in six human volunteers. It was hoped the antibody would stimulate T cell activation. As part of the production of TGN1412, recombinant DNA technology was used. After the very first infusion of a dose 500 times smaller than that found safe in animal studies, all six human volunteers within minutes suffered multiorgan failure requiring prolonged admission to an intensive care unit. Some experienced long term health adverse effects.​

• It horrifies me that under this Bill layman tinkerers will be able to meddle with plant DNA in their garages. This is already happening in the US.​

• I believe in a woven universe in which everything is interconnected. A Bill that introduces foreign genes into our plant and animal species in the pursuit of greater material wealth is abhorrent to me. It is a brutal disruption of balance and harmony within the natural order. I am implacably opposed to this attempt to irreversibly bulldoze our way through the delicately interconnected web that is our world. 

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Please join me in stopping this irresponsible piece of legislation.

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