| | 05/November/24
| | Genetic engineering reforms risk making New Zealand an outlier The New Zealand government’s proposed reforms to GMO regulation suggests the country could be heading into risky, uncharted territory. The proposals are "likely to shift New Zealand from having a high level of precaution to leapfrogging all other global regulatory frameworks to become an outlier with potentially fewer protections than countries with established GMO producers”, said Brendan Hoare, managing director of Buy Pure New Zealand, and spokesperson on GE [genetic engineering] for Organics Aotearoa New Zealand (OANZ). “These proposed changes aren’t, as touted by proponents, a catch-up to align us with countries that permit GMO production — they’re a leap into the unknown, with no thorough understanding of the science, and no assurance of safety for our ecosystems and communities,” he said. Of particular concern is the fact that no economic assessment of the potential impacts of these regulatory changes has been conducted, and that it appears that no intention exists on the part of government to conduct such an assessment. Tiffany Tompkins of OANZ said: “It appears that our policymakers have been sold on promises of a ‘magic box of tricks’. Yet, we have more than 30 years of evidence showing that the supposed benefits of GE have not been realised, and its risks remain unresolved.” The Daily Blog Canada's pesticide regulator was captured by industry from day one More than 20 years ago, the inaugural report by Canada's newly-formed parliamentary committee on the environment slammed the country's pesticide regulator for its lax pesticide laws and a too-cosy relationship with the pesticide industry. The report, released in 2000, critiqued the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), a quasi-independent body within Health Canada formed five years earlier to regulate and police pesticide use in Canada. "The PMRA is already a captive of the pesticide industry," the committee noted in the report. The problem has not gone away, as shown in a recent investigation that found Canada’s regulators are predisposed to working with producers to keep pesticides in use, despite evidence the chemicals are causing harm. National Observer Non-GMO supply chain unites against NGT deregulation Operators across Europe’s non-GMO supply chain are uniting against the proposed deregulation of new genomic techniques (NGTs), with a strong call for choice and transparency emerging from the recent non-GMO Summit in Frankfurt. Feed Navigator We hope you’ve found this newsletter interesting. Please support our work with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you! __________________________________________________________ Website: http://www.gmwatch.org
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