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Public 'Misled' On GE Risk

(Summary)

According to The Press, former Greenpeace director Patrick Moore, who also appeared before the commission, said the public had been misled over the risks of genetic engineering.

"I find my former organisation has adopted policies in a number of areas I believe to be very off track, wrong-headed, and illogical," said Dr Moore, who helped found Greenpeace in 1971 but left the organisation 15 years ago.

Greenpeace's zero tolerance policy towards genetic modification is just one example. "They say even if you have a genetically modified plant such as the golden rice that has the potential of reducing the number of children going blind through vitamin A deficiency by half a million, they won't accept it."

"They say they care more about the environment than people but our communities and farms are part of the environment," Dr Moore said.

The Press continued to say that "Greenpeace had yet to produce any evidence that genetic engineering was bad for the environment, instead relying on catch phrases derived from Hollywood movies. In fact, genetic engineering was a good way to reduce humans' impact on the environment by increasing yields of key food crops, thus reducing the amount of land required and freeing it up for forests. Genetic engineering could make crops resistant to pests, reducing the need for pesticides."

"Genetic modification is a form of organic farming," Dr Moore said. "It is using organic material, the genes of organisms, rather than chemicals."

"Genetic engineering would produce crops that required less soil disturbance, protecting the soil from erosion and loss of nutrients. There was also the possibility to grow medicines in foods, something that would benefit Third World people who could not afford drugs for many devastating diseases such as malaria", Dr Moore said.

In New Zealand, genetic engineering could help produce fast- growing varieties of native trees that could be used to reforest barren land. "Most crop plants can be bred yearly," he said. "Trees take years to produce viable seed so breeding them takes longer. "Genetic engineering allows you to circumvent that long breeding process."

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