Peter MacDonald
The new gene technology bill is being pushed through parliament with alarming speed, bypassing genuine public consultation and ignoring overwhelming opposition from everyday New Zealanders. This legislation is not about feeding the nation or improving food security: it’s about opening the door for global food corporations and investors to profit from genetically altered foods.
What’s at stake is far more than just processed products. This bill paves the way for the denaturing of our most trusted and iconic exports: our fruit, vegetables, dairy and meat – the very foundations of New Zealand’s reputation for clean, natural produce. Once gene editing and synthetic biology are normalised, the distinction between natural and engineered food will blur and small producers, farmers, and consumers will lose control to corporate patents and laboratory grown substitutes.
By forcing this bill through without proper scrutiny, the government risks handing our food sovereignty to offshore interests in exchange for short-term profit. New Zealanders deserve a voice in what’s grown, sold and consumed in their own country.
Once this technology is normalised, we risk a future where organic farmers and traditional seed sharing become outlawed under the guise of ‘biosecurity’ and ‘intellectual property protection’. Corporations that own patents on genetically engineered plants and animals will demand legal safeguards to protect their investments and that could mean criminalising the very act of growing food naturally.
The implications are chilling: home gardeners saving seeds, small-scale farmers maintaining heritage breeds or families keeping backyard hens could find themselves in breach of new bioengineering compliance rules. What has been humanity’s oldest and most natural right to grow and share food could be taken away to preserve the profits of patent holders and shareholders.
This isn’t speculation: it’s already happened overseas. In parts of North America and Europe, seed sovereignty movements have been stifled by legal threats from corporations that own genetic material in nearby crops. Once pollen from a patented plant contaminates a natural one, the corporation claims ownership of the genetics and the farmer loses their right to save seed.
If we allow this bill to pass without strong public safeguards, New Zealand’s proud legacy of clean, natural and self-sustaining food production could be lost forever replaced by dependence on foreign controlled, synthetic foodstuffs...
Footnote:
What’s most concerning is the silence from local government leaders. City mayors, who should be standing up for their communities, are instead turning a blind eye, fearful of being castigated by their own bureaucracies and regional councils that openly support the gene tech agenda. These councils have already aligned themselves with government directives and industry partners eager to attract biotech investment, regardless of public unease or long-term risk.
By ignoring their constituents and opposition, local leaders become complicit in dismantling New Zealand’s food independence.
