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Plastic-wrapped apples a target for rubbish plan
Disastrous day for New Zealand
| The Environmental Risk
Management Authority’s (ERMA) decision to allow field testing of genetically
engineered brassica crops risks sending good money after bad, with no chance
that the New Zealand public will ever agree to eat this plant or have it
grown commercially here. |
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Dear Peter
Further Evidence that we DO NOT live in a Democracy.
I have highlighted the bits of major concern as I see it.
What can one do in the face of such stupidity?
Arohanui John |
“This decision will allow for pest resistant forage kale, cabbages, cauliflower,
and broccoli containing a caterpillar killing pesticide to be taken out of the
laboratory into a field.
“Brassica is a particularly problematic crop. Brassica pollen travels large
distances, the seeds are small and brassicas cross easily, with hundreds of
variants in existence.
“Rather than reducing the need for pesticides, the use of Bacillus thuringiensis
(Bt) in genetically engineered crops is likely to produce long-term resistance
in insects, which means more toxic sprays will be needed to control pests,” Ms
Fitzsimons says.
"We must be cautious about promises of containment and monitoring, and that the
trial will not be allowed to flower.
“The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry raised
some very serious concerns following the last round of brassica field trials.
They highlighted failures to meet several conditions surrounding monitoring,
non-cultivation of trial sites and buffer zones. Other evidence shows that
canola plants were allowed to flower to enable seed production, and at the end
of the field tests, the plant material was disposed of by ploughing into the
ground. These seeds can lay dormant in soil for up to 15 years.
“ERMA received 959 submissions on this application – of which 941 were
opposed to the trials. What part of "No" don't they understand?
“Risks include the transfer of the changed genes to wild plants. For
example, plants engineered to be resistant to pesticides may transfer their
resistance to weeds. It has already been proven that this can happen, and
that new resistant weeds can survive in the wild. And almost all GE plants use
antibiotic resistant genes – another area of grave concern in agriculture and
wider society.
“The announcement of 10 years worth of funding for a trial with no safety
testing when even the project leader has admitted there can be no guarantees of
containing the trial to the site is tantamount to a publicly funded hand out for
scientific folly.
"The way forward for New Zealand is organics and integrated pest management,
building on our clean, green image."
For more information:
Keiller MacDuff, Media Officer, 04 470 672
NZ NEWS of local
impact
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