ERMA Confirms Scant Benefits from GM Brassica Trial
ERMA’s summary of its decision to approve the field trialling of GM brassica crops makes clear just how few benefits are expected to result from the exercise.
ERMA confirms in …
Change of approach required to achieve a sustainable New Zealand
Management of New Zealand’s environment continues to lack quantifiable targets needed to set the “outcome-oriented” policy the OECD recommends in its review released today. Voluntary measures are still being …
New Attack on GM Food Safety Testing Standards
Australian and New Zealand regulators are failing to resist an audacious bid by GM plant developers to have them abandon a fundamental principle of food safety testing.
The internationally accepted …
Potential Scale of Kyoto Bill Will Drive Setting of a Price on Carbon
The Sustainability Council welcomes Government’s indication that its favoured cross-sector mechanism for addressing greenhouse gas emissions is an emissions trading regime.
However, such a mechanism for setting a price on …
MAF Not Adequately Risk Managing GM Contamination at the Border
The latest seed contamination incident makes clear that MAF is not adequately risk managing border protection against GM contaminants.
There are low and no cost biosecurity options MAF could have …
Give Greenhouse Gas Emission Permits to Citizens, Not Emitters
An equitable and effective approach to addressing climate change can be set through giving each citizen an equal number of emission permits.
Addressing climate change requires a price to be …
Use Import Regulations to Drive Methyl Bromide Recapture
Existing regulations on the import of methyl bromide can be used to require recapture of the chemical rather than action on this being deferred.
Parliament’s Local Government and Environment Select …
New German GMO Liability Law Carries Lessons for NZ
Germany’s approach to setting new GMO liability law provides an important example for New Zealand, states a paper released today by the Sustainability Council.
The German Government has sought to …
Self-regulation Inadequate for Designer Organism Technology
Developers engaged in “synthetic biology” are discussing proposals for simply self-regulating this new applied science with far reaching implications.
Synthetic biology involves the construction of entirely new living systems from …
