| GE Free New Zealand in Food & Environment, 20th November 2005 ERMA Failing Public by Forging Ahead with GE Cows ERMA's latest GE approval fails the New Zealand public by going against a key recommendation of the Royal Commission on GM that we do not allow food-animals like cows to be used as bioreactors as AgResearch are being allowed to do. The decision by ERMA to approve three amendments to AgResearch's previous
application opens the door for more GE cows and yet again shows that ERMA
lacks impartiality. It is also unacceptable that ERMA has deliberately
refused to involve the public even though many people and organisations The first minor amendment is for an extension for another three years to
allow the research objectives to be achieved. The second amendment is to
allow the use of a single selection marker gene (conferring resistance to
the antibiotic puromycin) which is frequently used in such research. However the third amendment to approval GMD02028 is not minor but
potentially opens the gate for New Zealand to be used by overseas
speculators for experiments that New Zealanders widely oppose. The In this case the source of GE material is Dutch company Pharming (NV) who
are understood to have already contracted with AgResearch to market their
GE lactoferrin across Asia. This deal is itself suspicious given the fact
that until now AgResearch had no approval to import the semen and embryos By making these amendments ERMA has blatantly disregarded the concerns of meat exporters, farmers and the public of New Zealand. "The rules to protect the public and farmers are very clearly defined in the HSNO Act. Yet the sloppy science underpinning genetic modification continues to be sanctioned," says Claire Bleakley from GE Free NZ in food and environment. "Where are the scientific findings on the previous experiments and where are the final reports on safety to the environment that would justify ERMA's decision? It's simply business as usual as if the Royal Commission on GM had never taken place". The use of GE cow embryo's incorporating a human gene, antibiotic markers and viral genes to produce a product already marketed by New Zealand farmers, goes against the ethical values that the Royal Commission on GM identified (in its consultation on use of human genes in other organisms) as shared across the community. Moreover, there is readily available evidence of the failure in clinical
trials of milk from GE animal developed for therapeutic use due to adverse
effects and worsening of patients' symptoms. The commercial deal that
AgResearch has signed with Pharming is only putting New Zealand "AgResearch is not finding out how and what environmental problems occur
when animals are genetically modified. It has rented itself out to the
highest bidder using ERMA as its pimp and the taxpayer as its funder". ERMA is proving itself incapable of adopting the precautionary principle in light of International research about the known negative impacts of GE. The research includes finding that viral gene fragments can survive to function in cells in the digestive system, and that contamination of soil from GE crops may be been detected for fifteen years after a GE crop is grown. ERMA has yet again shown that it uses its discretion under the HSNO Act to avoid acting on the precautionary principle, pakeha and Maori views. The latest decision will be scrutinised to see if legal action is possible, as it is clearly warranted. ENDS Contact Claire Bleakley 06 308 9842 References: Marit R. Myhre, Kristin A. Fenton, Julia Eggert, Kaare M. Nielsen and GM crop scrapped as mice made ill, Selina Mitchell and Leigh Dayton, The |
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GE-Free New Zealandin food and environment (RAGE Inc.) |