Otago University's genetics lecture presented last night in Wellington, and to be presented in Auckland tonight, is outdated and recycles pro GE ideals, adding nothing new to the debate.
The "Should We Swallow It" lecture by John Knight prestented research on first time tourists and their GE views (1)(2).
"The research is confused and a waste of public money," says Claire Bleakley from GE-Free NZ in food and environment.
One major problem that makes the findings deceptive is the failure to differentiate between natural selection (GM) and genetic engineering (GE) in the questions used.
Research questions need to be accurate and reflect participants understanding of what is asked, or they become misleading.
The data being presented is useless as input for Government decision-making, and betrays a lack of understanding of the subject by the researcher.
"John Knight seems to be out of his depth and to have been seduced into a false understanding of GE. His findings were unable to differentiate between natural selection of plant breeding and laboratory transgenics (GE) of plants," says Claire Bleakley.
The profile given to the research by Otago University suggests powerful influences are engineering the debate, and seeking to ignore public concerns.
Ends
Jon Carapiet 0210507681
Claire Bleakley 027 3486731
1) John Knight - Should we swallow it? Exploding the myth about perceptions of genetic modification
http://www.otago.ac.nz/genetics/news/2012lectureseries/index.html
� Wellington - 6pm 29th August
� Auckland - 6pm 30th August
2) http://www.bsa.govt.nz/decisions/show/3285 |
