A Pandora’s Box in New Zealand. 
(Please send the link to this article to your contacts and get the news out!)
How much does a clean green New Zealand mean to you, and indeed what does it mean to you?
This blog may take a little time to read, so I ask you – can you spare that time to keep New Zealand pure from the worst kinds of genetic and environmental disruption?
This plea compiled by Lisa who founded Lisa’s Hummus and who (rather unwittingly) grew the product on her personal commitment to its G.E. free status, and by responding to people’s desire to eat G.E. free.
Genetic Engineering is the final pollution. Without condoning these situations, dirty rivers can be cleaned up, toxic agricultural chemicals that persist in the environment will at least stay in one place as does the damage from mining, to a degree. Genetically engineered plants and other GE organisms are different. Those that have pollen will not stay in just one field where they are planted. As has happened overseas, they cross into other areas and contaminate other crops.
“The G.E. crops now being grown represent a massive uncontrolled experiment whose outcome is inherently unpredictable.” Dr Barry Commoner.
Our beautiful country is surrounded by water and long term becomes the only country that can easily be totally GE free since, apart from Antarctia, all continents have GE crops on them. If you are a farmer or marketer, think of the business opportunity here!
“New Zealand’s G.E. Free crop status is providing sales opportunities we would not otherwise have.” Heinz Wattie’s. Unfortunately we are rapidly losing that ‘unofficial’ status.
We need a moratorium on G.E. release in any part of the environment.
So what is our situation right now?
1. G.E. pine trees have been planted here but have not flowered yet. When they do, whether intentionally or not- gene drift will contaminate other plants and spread, like gorse and other introduced species have done. UPDATE since writing this, protestors have pulled up the pine trees. Great work! Trade deals like the TPPA (in which NZ is currently in discussion including a ‘trade’ group of 9 Pacific countries) face companies like Monsanto lobbying the US to force G.E. crops into NZ and taking away people’s choice. Contamination of organic crops is already happening, and a lawsuit between farmers in Western Australia is underway. Overseas G.E. crops have led to super weeds, increased use of toxic chemicals in food, lower yields and more diseases.
Virtually all heritage varieties of corn in Mexico (the origin of all corn) have been found to have some G.E. contamination.
2. Plans to plant G.E. rye grass in NZ within the next two years are a threat. There are other ways to reduce methane emissions using mixed forage or organic farming. Indeed local independent scientists have produced an alternative rye grass that has been ignored by the government and industry. The desire for intellectual property (IP) is blocking non-technological and sustainable solutions. If the G.E grass is released throughout the country, and contaminates all our dairy products with G.E. it will also contaminate our GE-Free reputation and unique position in the world.
3. Animal experiments are being carried out in New Zealand. Putting human genes in animals raises ethical issues. G.E experiments have caused unacceptable and unnecessary suffering in animals.
4. Most G.E. science is done under the umbrella of large companies like Monsanto. Independent scientists warn that animal studies on G.E foods show organ damage and reduced fertility. No long term safety testing of the effects of GE food on animals or humans has occurred. Pre-testing and monitoring has been sidelined and data misinterpreted in the few studies that have been conducted. British scientists have observed weakened immune systems in rats fed G.E potatoes and allergic reactions have been reported from eating G.E. foods. Russian scientists have found that after feeding G.E. corn to rats for three generations, the rats become sterile.
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine urges doctors to prescribe non-GMO diets for all patients. They cite animal studies showing organ damage, gastrointestinal and immune system disorders, accelerated aging, and infertility. Human studies show how genetically modified food can leave material behind inside us, possibly causing long-term problems. Genes inserted into G.E. soy, for example, can transfer into the DNA of bacteria living inside us, and that the toxic insecticide produced by G.E. corn was found in the blood of pregnant women and their unborn foetuses.
5. Food Security worldwide is threatened by G.E. terminator genes and restricted access to seed. Commercial interests drive the biotechnology industry. Rather than reduce world hunger, G.E. has made things worse, especially in countries like Argentina and India. Once farmers buy their seed and supplies from G.E. companies they are contracted not to save seed, and to buy chemicals to go with them. So instead of seed-saving in natural cycles, once they start purchasing they have to continue. The subsequent failure of crops and huge debt has resulted in suicide for thousands of farmers.
Many G.E. crops have terminator genes that stop the plant from reproducing naturally. Imagine if that mixed with other plants!
“Seeking a technological food fix for world hunger may be the most commercially malevolent wild goose chase of the new century.” Dr Richard Horton, Editor of the Lancet.
What exactly is Genetic Engineering?
Unlike conventional breeding or cross pollination, scientists have used Genetic Engineering to take genes from bacteria, viruses, plants and animals and insert them into soy, corn, canola, cotton, alfalfa and other crops that have been released into the food chain. This has bypassed the evolution of plants over millions of years. Potatoes have never crossed with toads before! Scientists apply lab techniques that are able to move DNA from one organism into another. Viruses are used to override the defences of an organism and force new DNA into it. This makes it grow or produce differently, and GE organisms can continue to release material into the environment with unintended consequences, for soil, animal and human health.
“Herbicide-tolerant crops are engineered to enable crops to withstand doses of herbicides that would otherwise kill them. These crops are generally developed by the manufacturers of the herbicide with the hope of increasing the sale of that herbicide. Roundup ReadyTM crops, for example, are produced by the Monsanto company, the producer of the herbicide Roundup, a billion-dollar product that generates about 40 percent of the company’s annual revenue.” Union of Concerned Scientists.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The privatisation of living things is incompatible with Maori values such as kaitiatanga, tapu, mana o to iwi and communal ownership. The Treaty of Waitangi obliges the crown to protect all resources and taonga belonging to tangata whenua. This obligation could be breached by corporate patenting or genetic contamination of native species due to the release of genetic material into the environment.
Who owns our genes? Many people believe it should be illegal to buy and sell our genes for corporations to patent life forms and own them as “intellectual property” when they are party of the common heritage of all people. For example the Neem tree, a source of medicine to the Indian people for centuries, has been patented by European and US companies.
To conclude: the food we eat has been changed. In just a few years three multinational chemical companies have altered the genetic makeup of the world’s most common food crops, by creating new life forms that would never occur in nature,
New Zealand is in a unique position to resist this threat to the global food chain by saying NO to G. E. in our food and environment.
Be proud to be GE free!
Ask your MP, and John Key to
1. Keep G.E. pine trees and other genetically modified organisms out of our environment.
2. Stop the release of G.E. grass to feed dairy cows.
3. Ban cloning of cows with human genes to produce G.E. milk.
4. End the myth that GE food is needed to feed the world.
5. Protect the public from proven risks from G.E. foods.
6. Protect our agricultural sales by allowing NZ to move forward as a G.E. free nation.
Acknowledgement
A large portion of this e-mail is from the work of Jon Carapiet and others who have held the banner for a G.E. Free New Zealand for the past 10 years. I honour them.
Please see GE Free web sites: http://www.gefree.org.nz/ and http://www.giantexperiment.co.nz/ and also http://www.responsibletechnology.org/
I have called this article Pandora’s box for good reason. Pandora’s box is a story from Greek mythology. The box was given to Pandora, which contained all the evils of the world. When Pandora opened it, all the contents except for one item were released into the world. The one remaining item was Hope. Today, opening Pandora’s box means to create evil that cannot be undone.
However, I have HOPE for the future. Hope that the people of New Zealand will once again stand up for this country and defend it, and our people, from the a biotech bonanza which is consuming our world – not in the name of ethical science, but in the name of money and control.
In Hope
Lisa Er.
