Minister for Food Safety
Rt. Honourable Kate Wilkinson
(Copy to Rt. Honourable David Carter, Minister of Agriculture)
Parliament Buildings
Wellington.
Date
Dear Hon. Kate Wilkinson,
The National Government signed up to a deal in the mid-1990s whereby we ceded our sovereignty over food labelling and composition to Food Standards Australia New Zealand. As you will know, that organisation is based in Canberra, was set up under Australian legislation, and is chaired by an Australian Minister of Health and serviced by an Australian ministry. We have one vote out of 11 on the governing council!!
It is hard to believe that our government gave away our sovereign right to choose our own labelling laws here in New Zealand. The problem with our membership of Food Standards Australia New Zealand is not just that it is dominated by Australia and that we have one vote out of 11, but in joining up with Food Standards Australia New Zealand, we gave up our jurisdiction—the jurisdiction of Parliament – over all of the issues that we ceded to this body. So you cannot even pass laws in the House about food labelling or food composition!!
Parliament cannot introduce GE labelling or mandatory country of origin labelling because our Parliament has no jurisdiction over these matters. We have ceded it to the Australian-based body, where we have one vote out of 11.
This is insanity. We observe that the current National government is selling us out again through the TPPA which we hope will not be signed in November.
So our question to you, as minister for food safety is, what are you doing to protect us from contaminated food?
We consider that genetically engineered food is contaminated. It is contaminated with insecticide, so the plants won’t die when they are sprayed with RoundUp.
Three types of Monsanto genetically modified corn are under scrutiny in the wake of a study published by the International Journal of Biological Sciences which found that rats ingesting the corn were subject to statistically significant amounts of organ toxicity. These three types — Mon 863, insecticide-producing Mon 810, and Roundup® herbicide-absorbing NK 603 — have been approved for consumption in the US and several countries in Europe!
Who can we trust?
From the Food Safety ANZ web site I quote, “Does FSANZ commission its own scientific studies?”
The answer is “NO. It is the responsibility of companies that have developed GM foods to demonstrate the safety of that food and to supply FSANZ with the raw data from scientific studies to prove this.”
YOU are the minister for Food safety and you allow, by handing your responsibility to FSANZ, the companies that make money from GE food to assess if it is safe?
Seriously, isn’t that totally naive?
Since the independent scientists have confirmed that analysis of 19 animal feeding trials of GE food show organ damage to the liver and kidney surely this is a warning that officials have been wrong to approve GE foods as safe.
We do not want to eat genetically engineered food, and we should have the right to make that choice. Isn’t that what democratic freedom is all about?
So we are asking you to approach FSANZ and support New Zealanders who do not want to be subjected to health damaging food by requesting GE labelling.
Currently there are a minimum of two products for sale in Woolworths and Countdown that are dangerous. They are ProNutro cereal and Springbok maizemeal which are both made from genetically modified corn and soya, and are imported by Zebra Zoo. They are not even safe if a staff member drops a bag and inhales the dust from these cereals. Many other products on our shelves could include GE ingredients that we don’t know about.
That is why we need labelling.
Not only do we need labelling, we need to keep GE crops out of this country. At the moment We can eat GE free if we stick to NZ grown products, but the way Fonterra and ERMA are moving, we will lose that right very soon.
Just as with fluoride in our water, we should have freedom to choose what we put in our bodies and your government is not supporting that very basic human right.
I would like to know how you can address that issue.
Yours Sincerely
