The NZ Outdoors and Freedom Party is calling on Parliament to reject the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Amendment Bill, warning it reduces safeguards that protect New Zealand’s environment, our GE-free reputation and status, and the wider community.
The Party argues that the Bill prioritises “efficiency” over outcome, exposing the environment to risks from unforeseen and uncertain consequences. It increases risks to the community by removing mandatory public notification for new organism applications, creating a secret pathway from conditional release to release without controls.
“The purpose of HSNO of protecting New Zealand people and our environment from novel substances and organisms is completely undermined if bureaucrats can fast-track applications behind closed doors,” says Sue Grey, Leader of the NZ Outdoors and Freedom Party.
“Gene editing has the potential to cause considerable harm. So do new pesticides and other toxins. The public should not bear the risk of uncertainty and flawed assessments of medical and environmental risk. It should be for the importer to prove safety before new organisms or novel high-risk substances are released. Processes need to be transparent and information accessible so people can be confident the regulators have asked and answered the right questions and that the evidence provided is sound,” says Sue Grey, who has tertiary qualifications in biochemistry and environmental protection, as well as law.
“New Zealand’s GE-free reputation is part of our environmental inheritance and a strong economic asset, supporting our farmers, growers, exporters and organic producers,” says Daymond Goulder-Horobin, candidate for Port Waikato.
“Streamlining applications, even slightly, must not take precedence over protecting our environment and our economy. The timing of these changes, tagged behind the proposed Gene Technology Bill, creates the impression that this Bill is part and parcel of it. This must not become a backdoor for Gene Technology to take off while the Gene Technology Bill is still being debated”.
NZOFP says the Bill should be ditched. It's not acceptable for the Select Committee to simply toe the government line without addressing concerns raised by the public.
READ Outdoors and Freedom Party Submission to HSNO Bill HERE
NZOFP - HSNO Submission