October 20 2012 News update

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A situation has arisen in Auckland that requires some help.

Would you be willing to present to your local board and ask for your area to be declared GE free in food and field?

Read on:

It may seem a small move, just to change an area, and not the whole country, however, the government is heavily influenced by the corporations (Monsanto and Du Pont were is the country recently) and unfortunately business has a greater say than the people.

Auckland City Council are not supportive either. On Thursday,  a meeting of the Auckland Council’s Regional Development and Operations committee erupted in argument(Lisa Er was there) and a senior councilor was ejected, after revelations that a council panel has decided to delete wording in the Hauraki Gulf Island District Plan designed to protect the islands from damage by genetically modified organisms.

Former chair of the Auckland Regional Council Councilor Mike Lee was shocked to hear legacy council policies had been removed from the plans and spoke against the secret deletion of the clause in the Hauraki Gulf Island plan. He was forced to leave the meeting after refusing to apologise for blaming senior council officers for the debacle.
See Cr. Mike Lee being inappropriately shut down and thrown out go  HERE

Officers were challenged to explain the decision but in their responses to reassure the committee they appear to have deliberately misled councilors by saying no decision by council to delete the GMO wording had been made.

This is not the case. Evidence available on the Auckland Council website shows the council hearing panel has already decided to delete the wording from the plan, prior to a court hearing of appeals to the plan.

This is very undemocratic bearing in mind that in 2009, Colmar Brunton was commissioned by the Inter-council Working Party on GMO Risk Evaluation and Management Options to conduct a survey. Two thirds or more of the residents polled want local or regional councils to have a role in regulating GMOs in their areas, either by setting local rules or by a change of legislation at the national level. Support in the Auckland region averaged 68% .

If you are able to go to a Local Board Lisa Er has prepared a three minute power point presentation and accompanying notes for you to use or adapt to your liking.

Members of the public can speak at Local Board meetings. To find out your Local Board go HERE

To find the date of the November meetings go HERE

We have some areas covered, but the more people that go, the stronger we are so e-mail Lisa if you are interested in leading or supporting a group. lisa.er@theawarenessparty.com as she will co-ordinate this.

To set up a Local Board visit click HERE and scroll down to your local board.  Please phone to make an appointment.

I do request that you do not go until you have the background material from Lisa however. lisa.er@theawarenessparty.com

To be really informed about GE I do suggest that you watch the movie Genetic Roulette – the gamble of our lives. It is available from the Institute for Responsible Technology FREE until the end of October. HERE and for US  $2.99 thereafter.

If you don’t have time for the full move HERE is the 10 minute cut down version, although that is heavily focused on food labeling, which isn’t our focus here.

I really do ask you for help with visiting the local boards. There are only three of us in Auckland actively holding the GE free in food and field flame, and that is not quite enough to create a tipping point.

More news below.

Lisa Er

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There is an emerging situation in New Zealand.

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It looks as if our dairy industry is no longer GE free:
According to Straight Furrow, around 100.000 tonnes of genetically engineered soy-meal is imported annually into New Zealand for use as a supplementary feed for our dairy cows. It says a large shipment of Australian GM cotton meal, destined for our dairy herds, arrived in South Canterbury recently. Non-organic chickens and pigs are also fed soy and canola meal, which is most likely genetically engineered.

Please read GE free NZ’s press release HERE for the full implications of this.

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June / July 2012.

News from The Awareness Party:

A damning new evidence-based report about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has just been published — and it reveals that most of the claims made by the pro-GM camp are nothing more than hot air.

This comprehensive and fascinating report, published by a non-governmental organisation Earth Open Source, is entitled “GMO Myths and Truths: An evidence-based examination of the claims made for the safety and efficacy of genetically modified crops.” What makes it so powerful is that two of the authors are genetic engineers — Michael Antoniou PhD, of King’s College London School of Medicine in the UK, and John Fagan PhD, a leading sustainability expert in food system, biosafety, and GMO testing, and founder/chief scientific officer of the Global Id Group.

The report effectively dismisses the “far reaching claims” used as the basis for extensive promotion of GMO crops by the biotech industry, governments and government agencies and proponents of GMO technology. It reveals that the exact opposite of the pro-GM claims is true pretty much universally. Most notably, the reports shows that GMOs are associated with hazards to health and the environment

Rather than representing the solution to world hunger, GMOs, according to these authors, not only fail to deal with the problem, but they also distract from its real causes: “Poverty, lack of access to food and, increasingly, lack of access to land to grow it on”.

The report provides evidence that conventional plant breeding outperforms GMc crops in terms of yield, drought tolerance, disease and pest resistance — all of which confirms the findings of a 30-year study comparing organic with conventional farming methods, including GMOs. GMO-free farming is absolutely able to meet our present and future food needs, without all the risks and damage being wreaked by GMO technology!

The new report also echoes the findings of 400 scientists from 60 countries who concluded, back in 2008, that GMOs were no solution to food shortages in the developing world. This research was detailed in the UN’s International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report.

The 2008 report concluded that GM raises numerous contentious issues for developing countries, such as gene transfer, contamination of organic crops, undermining of local practices, reduced food security and unpredictable or reduced yields.

The biotech industry and government agencies must now be answerable
Opposition to GMO technology can no longer be dismissed as emotional anti-science or pseudoscience. With every uncomfortable truth and dirty trick now exposed by solid science from genetic engineers themselves, GMO food and agriculture now looks less like an impressive, modern technology, and more like a dangerous and foolhardy con trick designed to secure ownership of the world’s food supply for highly unscrupulous and unethical corporations.

“The G.E. crops now being grown represent a massive uncontrolled experiment whose outcome is inherently unpredictable” says Dr Barry Commoner an American biologist, college professor, and politician.

Lisa Er  founder of both Lisa’s hummus and dips, and The Awareness Party says,  “GE is based on out-dated understanding of natural systems. We need a moratorium on G.E. release in any part of the environment” .

“Our beautiful country is surrounded by water and long term becomes the only country that can easily be totally GE free since, all continents have GE crops on them. If you are a farmer or marketer, think of the export opportunity here!”

” Heinz Wattie’s agrees:-  “New Zealand’s G.E. Free crop status is providing sales opportunities we would not otherwise have.

This month Hawke’s Bay took one step closer to establishing a genetic engineering-free food status for the region when the Hastings District Council expressed support for the vision. Pure Hawke’s Bay presented to the Hastings Council’s long-term plan hearing this week to put its case forward for a GE-free district and the council responded by voting unanimously in support of the proposal.

The council was keen to join Napier in declaring itself GE-free but wanted to take the concept a step further, writing it into its district plan to give it some legal clout.

The idea is to protect the growing soils of the Heretaunga Plains which supports the region’s primary and horticulture economy.

The council was also keen to become a national leader of the GE-free movement rather than wait for the Government to come up with a national policy. Currently only Whangarei is moving in the GE-free direction.

The status would give food producers a point of difference when marketing overseas and put tighter rules around applications for GE crops to be grown in the district.

Pure Hawke’s Bay said it was not “anti-science” but believed research around GE foods should be restricted “to the labs” and not grown out in crops in New Zealand.

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said the move could prevent cases like the one in the Bay of Plenty, where a handful of growers “acted on their own” injecting antibiotics into their kiwifruit trees to avoid the kiwifruit vine disease known as Psa.

“It got quite out of control and now there’s nothing they can do with that fruit. People will try to bring in things illegally to grow but if the GE-free status is in the district plan, the risk becomes a lot greater.”

Radio New Zealand: Pure Hawke’s Bay says the outcome of a consumer poll supports its call for the Hastings District Council to impose a 10-year ban on genetically-modified produced food.

The poll of 500 Hawke’s Bay people found that 84% of those who responded want the region to remain GM-free.

There are also moves in Whangerai and Northland to keep the areas GE free.

In contrast to this, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held its first hearing on GE to consider a plan to leave company managers overseeing their own biosecurity compliance, but the applicants are irresponsible in not mentioning serious breaches of biosecurity that have happened before.

A group of ten organisations from Crown Research Institutes (CRI) and private businesses has applied to import and develop genetically engineered (GE) thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana).

The EPA hearing is the first since it took over the role of ERMA to consider GE applications. It considered how it would be possible for just 3 biosecurity officers from the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) to secure, monitor and inspect the 170 containment facilities covered in the application, or to ensure consistency in their management.

But previous breaches in containment went unmentioned in the application. Instead the EPA has been provided hyped promises to justify handing over oversight of biosecurity to the companies themselves.

Scion’s spokesperson told the EPA hearing about the benefits of developing GE for international collaboration and better understanding of plant traits. However, it is highly concerning that the discussion was on promoting GE development, and that the evidence of harm from GE plants to the environment, health of animals and possibly humans was not mentioned in any of the presentations.

“The EPA must implement stringent controls on the management in all GE facilities” said Claire Bleakley president of GE-Free NZ in food and environment.

A million dollars has just been spent on checking for a single fly that risked New Zealand’s biosecurity. Mistakes at GE trials or containment labs could cost much more.

New Zealand’s economy is reliant on the integrity of our biosecurity and the EPA cannot ignore the past breaches or the failures of GE. Yield and performance are poor; resistant weeds and insects are causing serious problems to farmers; and overuse of chemicals is leading to use of mixtures with older more toxic chemicals.

“We hope that the constructive debate that was had today at the EPA hearing was not for show and does not repeat the pretense that has gone on previously in ‘consultation’.

“A small number of researchers have dedicated their life to GE, however after ten years and no viable outcomes, it is time these people considered more acceptable use of genomics in the areas of Marker Assisted Breeding and recognised the value of New Zealand’s GE-free food production,” said Mrs. Bleakley.

From 2007 -2010 there was a series of major breaches in security of the facilities, and this has resulted in the closure of all horticultural field trials in New Zealand. A prior approval for allium species (onion, spring onion, leek and garlic), which was put on hold, has been terminated. Plant and Food are considering their options and advancing along the Marker Assisted Breeding route.

The Awareness Party questions the wisdom of the EPA when so many problems associated with GE are appearing in the environment . For example, The GM corn, launched in 2003, is engineered to produce a protein, known as Cry3Bb1, derived from a bacterium known as Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt. In theory, rootworms ingest Bt corn roots and the protein is fatal. However, recent reports indicate that pesticide-resistant rootworms are showing up weeks earlier and more voraciously than ever.

In a research paper published in the July/August/September 2012 issue of the journal GM Crops & Food, scientists reported that samples taken in 2010 indicated that rootworm populations had an eleven-fold survival rate on Cry3Bb1 maize than did control populations. The paper noted that resistant corn rootworm populations first identified in 2009 had three-fold survival rates on Cry3Bb1 maize at that time compared to other populations.

Mike Gray, a professor of entomology with the University of Illinois reported: “We’re still early in the growing season, and the adults are about a month ahead of schedule,” explained Gray. “I was surprised to see them – and there were a lot.”

Reports of increasing rootworm damage began coming in last year after Iowa State University researcher Aaron Gassmann published a study saying that the rootworms in Iowa were becoming resistant to GM corn, creating so-called “superbugs.” Farmers in several states found that the western corn rootworm was surviving after ingesting an insecticidal toxin produced by the corn plants.

With both demand and prices high, many farmers are planting corn year after year and on more acres, increasing the possibility that resistance could develop. Typically, corn farmers have had to rotate corn crops to minimize pest pressures. But with Bt corn, many simply planted “corn on corn,” year after year. Federal regulators require a 20 percent “refuge” of non-Bt corn near Bt acres, but many growers have ignored that and oversight has been lax.

The new “superbug” rootworms may lead to serious financial woes for both farmers and the rest of us, according to a letter sent to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by 22 prominent scientists and corn-management experts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and universities across the Midwestern Corn Belt. Patrick Porter, PhD, associate professor at Texas A&M University, who drafted the letter, noted that farmers are paying almost twice as much for seeds that don’t live up to their promises, and are then having to resort to insecticides on top of that.

The potential result, according to Porter, is crop failure which could raise food prices at the grocery store. Porter said, “If farmers start taking damage (from) any pest, that will lower yields. That will reduce the supply of corn and increase prices.” Porter also noted that when prices for corn go up, more farmers start planting corn despite the risks, and when growers shift to growing more of one crop, they grow less of other crops and those crops’ prices also go up.

Adding to GM crop concerns, recent research from Canadian scientists found that pesticides used on genetically modified (GM) crops and, in some cases, the genes used to create GM crops are able to survive in our digestive tracts, move into our bloodstreams and, in the case of pregnant women, show up in their developing infants. The research contradicts repeated contentions by Monsanto and the EPA that only insects would be hurt by GM crops.

References:Genetic Engineers Produce damning report: http://preventdisease.com/news/12/062112_Genetic-Engineers-Produce-Damning-Report-Exposing-Genetically-Modified-Foods.shtml EPA Hears GE Promise But Not All The Facts:

http://press.gefree.org.nz/press/20120622.htm

GE Scientists warn against GE food:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1206/S00240/ge-scientists-warn-against-ge-food.htm

Nature fights back – bugs devour GM Monsanto corn with a vengeance:

http://www.naturalnews.com/036254_GM_corn_rootworm_crop_failures.html#ixzz1yflGBW3C

Pure Hawkes Bay:

http://purehawkesbay.org/news/food-grown-in-tasmania-is-gm-free-the-entire-state-has-a-moratorium-on-any-use-of-gene-technology-in-the-commercial-production-of-food/