Inquiry into AgResearch GE experiments needed

Inquiry into AgResearch GE experiments needed

GREENS PRESS RELEASE  21 FEBRUARY 2011

 Contact: Sue Kedgley MP

It is time for AgResearch to admit the failure of its genetic engineering experiments on animals and halt these experiments altogether, the Green Party said today.

 

"A full Parliamentary inquiry is needed into the ethics and animal welfare issues surrounding the failed GE trials at AgResearch's Ruakura facility," Green Party Animal Welfare spokesperson Sue Kedgley said.

There has been a veil of secrecy surrounding AgResearch’s GE animal experiments which it conducts using taxpayers’ money. It’s time to lift the lid on that research and consider the animal welfare and ethical implications of creating GE animals.

 

AgResearch has today revealed unacceptably high death rates among its genetically engineered laboratory animals. It also revealed that deformities including lameness, chronic arthritis and a high rate of foetal deaths, has forced it to abandon its experiments to create GE animals by cloning techniques.

 

"Yet AgResearch still intends to push on with its GE animal experiments, using unproven, experimental techniques," Ms Kedgley said.

 

"An inquiry needs to investigate the extent of the failure of the first round of its Genetic Engineering trials on animals, and why it is that, despite these massive failures, AgResearch intends to push on with further trials.

 

Ms Kedgley said the gains made by these experiments appear to have been nil, while the cost to animal welfare has been enormous suffering and needless deaths.

 

"There has been a veil of secrecy surrounding AgResearch's GE animal experiments which it conducts using taxpayers' money. It's time to lift the lid on that research and consider the animal welfare and ethical implications of creating GE animals," Ms Kedgley said.

 

"We know that AgResearch has created at least 267 genetically engineered cattle, and over 8000 genetically engineered mice. Only 10 percent of these animals survived through the trials.

 

"These experiments are being conducted with taxpayers' money — surely we have a right to know what is going on and debate the implications of these experiments?

 

"It should be Parliament, not AgResearch, that examines the ethical and animal welfare implications of these experiments and decides whether to continue experimenting on animals, and creating genetically engineered animals," Ms Kedgley said.

 

Currently AgResearch has over 100 living genetically engineered cattle.