Mark Freeman
Organisers of last weekend’s protests against the Gene Technology Bill are urging people to pressure New Zealand First to reject the bill.
The protests, organised by GE Honesty, were held in nearly 30 centres to raise public awareness of the bill, which is still in the select committee phase. The legislation is a move by the government to end the three-decade ban on gene technology outside the laboratory in New Zealand and introduce a gene technology regulator.
Labour and the Greens oppose the bill. In October, New Zealand First, which has the deciding votes on the bill, said it was too liberal and that it wouldn’t support it unless major changes were made to it.
But Wellington event co-organiser Karen Tonks says New Zealand First has the power to have the legislation thrown out. “It needs to be chucked out. It’s not fit for purpose. And so email all of the eight New Zealand first MPs. Send them an email and put the pressure on them.”
Co-organiser of the Wellington event Fiona Buchet says gene technology is like a genie that can’t be put back in the bottle: once it’s released, it is not reversible. “We need to keep New Zealand pure. It’s our unique selling point. It’s part of our brand and we’re just going to throw it away. We have to kill the bill because it’s crazy.”
Champion mountain biker and runner and health practitioner Gary Moller says the bill is potentially disastrous.
“It could take New Zealand down as a viable country. I have a general principle and that is that our genes are our God script and it’s something that is shared with every form of life on this planet. Man should never be so arrogant as to want to play God in any form, and genetically engineering your God script – whether it’s human, plant or animal – is foolhardiness.”
