Twenty years ago 10,000 people marched down Auckland’s Queen St, demanding the continuation of the moratorium on genetically engineered organisms in New Zealand. Even though the government lifted the moratorium in October 2003, no one has yet applied to commercially release any GE organisms into the environment. After tens of millions of taxpayer dollars, most of the field trials conducted here have yielded no benefits and have been discontinued.
Since then, a whole generation has grown up aware that Aotearoa New Zealand is ‘GE-free’, like it’s nuclear-free, but we’re getting bombarded with claims that genetic engineering is safe and now really precise, and has a whole lot of benefits. Vested interests are pouring money into trying to convince us that GE could mitigate climate change and improve the environment.
What are the potential risks and benefits – to humans, animals, ecosystems? Who stands to gain? Who’s funding the research and development? What are the do something, doesn’t mean we .
