- WELLINGTON, New Zealand (ENS)
- For an extraordinary seven hours today, in the middle of an election
campaign, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark refused to answer journalists'
questions on her government's coverup of the illegal release of over 15,000
genetically engineered corn plants.
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- New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark (Photo courtesy
Office of the Prime Minister) New Zealand investigative journalist Nicky
Hager revealed the illegality and its coverup in his book "Seeds of
Distrust" released early this morning.
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- The government discovered in November 2000 that a 5.6
tonne consignment of sweet corn seeds imported from Novartis in the United
States was contaminated with genetically engineered seeds.
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- Based on leaked Cabinet papers and other government documents,
Hager's book shows that when government ministers were first informed of
the problem, about half the contaminated seeds had been planted. The remainder
were in storage.
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- Instead of destroying the crop, the government responded
to lobbying from industry groups and Novartis to allow the unauthorized
seedlings to be grown, harvested and processed into food products. The
stored seed was also approved for use rather than destroyed.
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- Journalist Nicky Hager (Photo © Bob Burton)
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- The revelations are likely to affect the ability of Clark's
Labor Government to win a majority of seats in the July 27 election and
thus be able to form a new government. The New Zealand election campaign
has been dominated by controversies over genetically engineered crops and
the credibility of Clark.
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- Under New Zealand's Hazardous Substances and New Organisms
Act, any release of genetically modified organisms requires approval from
the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA).
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- After she was informed in mid-November 2000 that genetically
contaminated crops were being grown, Clark initially favored the option
that the plants to be removed and the remaining seed destroyed.
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- But before the plants could be removed, a major lobbying
campaign led by the public relations lobbyist for Novartis, by then merged
with AstraZeneca and known as Sygenta, persuaded the government to backtrack.
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- At a meeting in late November, Sygenta and other affected
companies proposed the adoption of a policy that would allow a threshold
level of 0.5 percent contamination of crops with genetically modified organisms
to be deemed acceptable.
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- In December 2000, the Clark Government agreed to adopt
the 0.5 percent threshold. The basis of the policy change was that the
test results on the batch of contaminated seeds were "inconclusive,"
a claim contradicted by the leaked internal documents. "Some GM [genetically
modified] maize seed has been released in New Zealand," one Ministry
for the Environment document stated.
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- While the level of contamination detected varied according
to the test techniques and sample sizes of the different laboratories that
conducted tests, the existence of genetic contamination in the corn was
indisputable.
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- Cover of Nicky Hager's book "Seeds of Distrust"
that exposes the coverup. (Photo courtesy <http://www.craigpotton.co.nz/Craig
Potton Publisher)
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- Complicating the government's public relations dilemma
is the existence of the government appointed Royal Commission into Genetic
Modification. While the Royal Commission was conducting its investigation
between May 2000 and July 2001, the government agreed to a moratorium on
the release of genetically engineered organisms into the environment.
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- The government's secret approval for allowing the contaminated
crops to grow and pollinate breached the moratorium.
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- At the time of the contamination crisis, the Royal Commission
was holding public hearings, oblivious to the concern amongst government
scientists that between 15,000 and 30,000 genetically modified corn plants
were being illegally grown in three New Zealand farming districts.
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- Rather than inform the Royal Commission at the time,
the government withheld a formal submission that obliquely referred to
the contamination problem until the last week of hearings in February 2001.
The letter from the government to the Royal Commission claimed tests "could
not confirm whether or not GM material was present."
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- But the day before the Cabinet subcommittee finalized
this letter, ERMA Chief Executive Bas Walker wrote to the government minister
coordinating the statement, then Environment Minister Pete Hodgson, stating
his concern that the Royal Commission would be misled.
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- "There is no way that [the 0.5 percent contamination
allowance] can be construed as simply a continuation of existing policy.
It presents a shift in policy, which (in my opinion) will probably require
legislative change to formalize," Walker wrote.
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- Walker's concerns were ignored and the government's submission
went unchallenged by the Royal Commission.
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- The explosive revelations could not have come at a worse
time for the Labor Government. Ever since Clark called the election in
mid-June, its electoral standing has plummeted. Government hopes that it
could win an outright majority of seats in the 120 member Parliament are
rapidly disappearing.
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- With an absolute majority, Clark would be able to push
legislation through the single house Parliament without the support of
the Green Party. But now with the controversy over genetically engineered
crops raging, support for the Green Party has surged from the five percent
it garnered at the 1999 election to over 10 percent.
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- Under New Zealand's proportional representation system,
the Green Party looks set to increase their representation from their current
seven seats to at least 13 seats.
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- NZ Environment Minister Marian Hobbs is in charge of
biosecurity. (Photo courtesy Office of the Minister)
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- After seven hours of silence from the government following
the book's release, Environment Minister Marian Hobbs finally issued a
media statement. "For the government there are no acceptable levels
of GM contamination," she declared.
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- Hobbs denied there was any genetic contamination in the
batch of Novartis corn, despite the evidence contained in the government's
own internal documents reproduced in full as appendices to Hager's "Seeds
of Distrust."
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- "There was no evidence of GM contamination in the
corn seed," she claimed. Hobbs' spokesman, however, confirmed that
there was contamination but claimed it was below the threshold. Nor did
he dispute that the published internal documents referred to genetic contamination.
"I haven't read all of the book," he told ENS.
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- Finally, late in the day, Clark broke her self-imposed
media silence. Spending little time on the substance of the book, she went
on the attack. "This is dirt without precedent, the dirt is now not
confined to the National Party, it has spread to elements of the green
movement," she said at a hastily convened media conference.
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- It is an argument Hager does not buy. "Under New
Zealand law, even one genetically engineered plant - once known about
- was illegal and should have been dealt with. What is the point of an
agency like ERMA," he asks, "if the government simply bypasses
it when it feels like it?"
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- Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All Rights
Reserved. http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2002/2002-07-10-01.asp
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