by frog
Flowers are normally a good thing. Unless they are genetically engineered brassica (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and forage kale) plants, that is.
The Soil and Health Association of New Zealand is calling for MAF – Biosecurity NZ (MAFBNZ) to test for GE contamination of brassica seed and bee products – especially honey – from the Lincoln area, after the plants in a field trial flowered.
Soil and Health have also asked the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) to immediately reassess and withdraw consents held by Plant & Food Research (the Lincoln-based crown research institute containment facility where GE brassica plants had been growing as part of an approved field trial) for GE tests of brassica and Allium species (onions, garlic, leeks etc).
It is obvious, even to the most closed-minded bigots, that wind, bees and other insects can easily spread pollen into the surrounding area . Strong winds and insect activity can spread pollen many kilometres.
So much for our international clean, green reputation.
Overseas research has clearly shown that GE crops threaten organics.
The ERMA consent condition (condition 1.8) explicitly states that
Brassica oleracea plants shall be prevented from producing open flowers in the field test site. Plants identified as initiating bolting must either be immediately moved back into a containment structure (control 1.4) or killed (control 1.12).
This is clearly not happening.
It’s great that the risky GE brassica field trail at Lincoln has ended less than two years into its 10 year consent period, but Plant and Food’s GE alliums field trial must also be revoked. New Zealand’s biosecurity and our valuable export markets depend upon it.
Published in Environment & Resource Management by frog on Sat, March 28th, 2009
Tags: biosecurity, GE Free, organics
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
Also from the article that you link:
“It was impossible under EU rules for Britain to stop them being grown commercially, unless it found health or environmental evidence they were harmful. Ethical or moral reasons did not count”
The market for food is highly competitive, and it seems to me that if firms can make genetically engineer a product that is cheaper to make, that decrease in cost will be passed fairly smartly onto the consumer. It seems that you are more concerned with non-interference with nature (never mind that we have been genetically modifying plants and animals for centuries (if not milennia) through selective breeding) than with providing cheaper goods for the poorest members of society.
I am not sure that this is justifiable, and making dire warnings about threats to our biosecurity seems overblown.
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And the best version IMHO of this Anthem is from the album “Before the Flood” by Dylan and The Band. Awesome!
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Or Jackson Browne’s excellent “Late For The Sky” Album – has a track called “Before the Deluge”.
One is reminded of the Pioneer who released six or ten rabbits loose in South Australia for a bit of sport.
Current Bunny Population there is estimated at 800,000,000…oh dear
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Why the irrational fear of genetic modification? I can’t be the only one that doesn’t care if my food is gnetically modified. I do have some concern regarding pesticide use. So why not use gm foods in organically grown foods? Wouldn’t you get the best productivity and safety then?
Expensive food has a cost you know. Cheap food is one of the greatest achievements of civilization and this anti science position does you no favours. People rally on about fish genes in tomatos, which we do need to be careful of, but 98% of gm is not across species. What’s the harm?
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Speaking of food…..
There was a fascinating doco on Sky last night about the lies and propaganda used by the anti fast food lobby.
I think the doco was titled “fat head” or something like that, anyway it totally debunks all the myths about advertising aimed at kids and the real causes of obesity (which is not as high as reported)
In the interest of fairness those who want to control what we (or our kids) eat should watch it.
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Big Bro,
Why do fast food companies advertise during kids TV programs? Is it to increase the number of customers, or is it simply McDonalds trying to get people to switch from Burger King (which by the way, really do have better tasting burgers in my opinion)? I seem to remember hearing the latter argument (encouraging consumers to switch brands) also put forward by the tobacco companies.
Anyhow, I personally reckon fast food companies receive more than their fair share of criticism. Sometimes they are criticised for paying their employees not very much; well they certainly aren’t alone in this respect. Sometimes they are criticised for unhealthy food, but Tim Tams and fish and chips are also unhealthy in excess. Sometimes people criticise them on environmental grounds; but why is eating a meat burger at McDonalds any worse than making your own burger at home?
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Irrational fears are just that, but in this case the experiment was allowed providing certain quite reasonable measures were taken on a precautionary principle. However those measures were not taken, and if there is a problem, the opportunity to contain the damage has been lost. This is simply an irresponsible breach of contract.
Trevor.
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samiuela
“Why do fast food companies advertise during kids TV programs?”
I am so glad you asked that question, the answer is of course obvious, they advertise so they can sell more burgers.
Now people like Sue K will always say that is a bad thing, but by saying that she arrogantly assumes..
1 The people watching are brain dead
2 That poor people (who mostly eat fast food) are stupid
3 That parents have no control over their kids
4 That the food being advertised is bad for you.
The doco proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that all of these assumptions are wrong, not only are they wrong but they are also racist.
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samiuela Says:
March 29th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
> Anyhow, I personally reckon fast food companies receive more than their fair share of criticism.
I reckon KFC comes in for less than its fair share of criticism. Their food is fattier than McDonalds food. It contains more MSG than McDonald’s. It’s a more unbalanced meal than McDonalds. Their animal welfare record is as bad as McDonalds’. And while McDonalds buildings are often a positive addition to the streetscape, KFC buildings never are.
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This is the ‘same old-same old’ that we got from Lincoln back in the bad old days of the Moratorium being lifted in 2003: keep it in the lab, field trials are too risky in a flat province prone to foehn winds all summer!
GE is not being handled with integrity by those at ERMA and Crop & Food who are designing the trials, the assumption is that they are trying to achieve de facto release into the ‘wild’, ie: directly into the NZ food chain.
Not cool, NZFSA, not cool.
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Kelsey – this is not about cheap food, but about big companies owning the rights to seed. If you’ve kept up with the history of this whole issue you would know that it is much more complex than supplying food. It is about control. One of the more unpleasant aspects of ge seeds going feral is that should a grower be found to have inadvertantly grown some of them he can be sued by the ‘owner’ of that seed patent – this has happened, most notoriously in Canada to Percy Schmeiser.
Once Monsanto (or whoever) control the ownership of basic food crops, they can charge what they like to the growers. The growers are not allowed to save seed and are usually locked into a contractual arrangement with the ge firm.
This kind of deal is disastrous for places that rely on crops for trade; it is bad for their neighbours and bad for countries that trade on their clean image.
Europe will no longer import Australian wheat because they made the mistake of allowing ge wheat in and it contaminated wheat exports. Someone mentioned rabbits – yes, but worse, you can’t see it and the effects are insidious on a whole other level.
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