Greenpeace is slating the National Party’s announcement that it would abandon New Zealand’s GE Free status "just to provide yet another means of delaying climate action".

Greenpeace agriculture campaigner Christine Rose says "Christopher Luxon’s announcement that the National Party would abandon New Zealand’s GE Free food producer status just to provide the dairy industry with yet another means for delaying emissions reduction is a dangerous joke."

"These are not serious people," says Rose. "There are no GE technofixes that will address the climate crisis. Many of New Zealand’s exporters rely on the competitive advantage that we have as a GE Free producer, and the release of genetically modified organisms risks ecological disaster."

"We don’t need wacky science experiments, we already know how to reduce agricultural emissions. Whoever forms the next Government must act urgently to reduce cow numbers and phase out synthetic nitrogen fertiliser."

Greenpeace has long opposed the release of genetically modified organisms into the environment and food chain, saying that GE should be confined to the laboratory.

"Thousands of New Zealanders marched in the streets to keep New Zealand GE Free, and it has effectively been that way ever since. We are proud to be Ge Free, it’s of great value, and we will not sit by and have it thrown away for the sake of more dairy industry profits and predatory delay," says Rose.

Although there is technically no ban on genetically engineered crops in New Zealand, there are good strong regulations in place that make it very difficult to get approval for field trials or commercial crops.

Greenpeace Science EU Unit warns

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