Press releases

Pipped at the Post - 'GE Forbidden Fruit' Developers beaten to market

GE FREE NZ Media Release

14/01/2019

 

http://press.gefree.org.nz/press/20190114.htm

Pipped at the Post - 'GE Forbidden Fruit' Developers beaten to market

Northland communities urge Northland Regional Council to protect the region's existing GE Free status

 

GE Free Northland
2 November 2018 Media Release
Gene edited organisms are GMOs and are unacceptable in Northland
Northland communities urge Northland Regional Council to protect the region's valuable GE free status


More than one hundred submissions (lodged in response to the Northland Regional Council's proposed new Regional Plan) strongly back alignment with Auckland and Northland District Council plans that already contain provisions and policies created for the purpose of protectiing the Northern peninsula's valuable GE-Free status. 

 

VICTORY FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES- FEDERATED FARMERS OF NZ DROP CONTROVERSIAL GMO APPEAL

VICTORY FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES- FEDERATED FARMERS OF NZ DROP CONTROVERSIAL GMO APPEAL 

GE-FREE Northland 

26 May 2018 Media release


 

GE-Free Northland are celebrating the news that Federated Farmers of NZ have finally withdrawn their controversial GE/GMO appeal against Whangarei District Council and Far North District Council (1).

AGM

Upcoming AGM - details soon.

Soil & Health celebrates: Federated Farmers drop legal action around GMOs

https://organicnz.org.nz/uncategorized/soil-health-celebrates-federated-farmers-drop-legal-action-around-gmos/

25 May 2018
MEDIA RELEASE

Soil & Health celebrates: Federated Farmers drop legal action around GMOs.

Another win for GE FREE NZ

The Soil & Health Association welcomes a decision released today by the Environment Court declining Federated Farmers’ attempt to challenge regulation of genetically modified organisms under the RMA.

 

In the latest case before the Environment Court, Whangarei District Council appealed the Northland Council’s Regional Policy Statement, asking to delete one word – ‘plants’ so that the policy would require a precautionary approach to be adopted towards introducing genetically engineered organisms generally – not just plants – to the environment.

 

“The court’s decision is a victory for common sense and for the interests of all Northlanders concerned about the possible introduction of GMOs into the environment, whether they be plants, animals, insects or microorganisms,” said Graham Clarke, Soil & Health’s chair.

 

Community support for a GE-free Northland

Community support for a GE-free Northland

 

22 March 2018 Media release: GE Free Northland

GE-FREE NORTHLAND VICTORY AGAINST FEDERATED FARMERS OF NZ

GE-FREE NORTHLAND VICTORY AGAINST FEDERATED FARMERS OF NZ

GE-Free Northland

1 November 2017 Media release

GE-Free Northland, hundreds of Northland primary producers, and other submitters are celebrating the decision by Federated Farmers of NZ (FFNZ) to finally abandon its crusade to force Northland Regional Council to remove sound precautionary GE/GMO provisions from the Northland Regional Policy Statement.

FFNZ filed its latest appeal earlier this year in the Court of Appeal, after losing in both the Environment Court (2015) and the High Court (2016).

Northland councils and communities are confident (now that the jurisdictional issue has been settled) that our valuable existing GE free status will be retained, from the Bombay Hills north to Cape Reinga.

Whangarei District Council and a broad range of interested parties including GE Free Northland, Tai Tokerau mana whenua, Far North District Council, and the Soil & Health Association have secured local authorities' right to manage the outdoor use of GMOs in their regions.

A win for clean, green, GE-FREE New Zealand

A win for clean, green, GE-free New Zealand


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
31 October 2017
 
The Soil & Health Association is celebrating the decision by Federated Farmers to abandon its appeal against the right of councils to control the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their territories. Federated Farmers filed its latest appeal earlier this year in the Court of Appeal, after its appeals to the Environment Court and High Court had been dismissed.
 
“We congratulate Federated Farmers on this pragmatic and sensible decision,” said Soil & Health Chair Graham Clarke.
 
“Both the High Court and Environment Court have ruled that regional councils have jurisdiction under the Resource Management Act (RMA) to regulate the use of GMOs through regional policy statements or plans. The recent RMA amendments further entrench the legal rights of councils to do so. Challenging these decisions would only have cost both us, the other parties involved and Federated Farmers themselves a lot of unnecessary time and money.”
 
Federated Farmers had argued that the Environmental Protection Authority had sole responsibility for the regulation of GMOs under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (HSNO).
 
The decision to withdraw its appeal comes after recent amendments were made to the RMA, which confirmed the High Court ruling, leading Federated Farmers to believe that they “are likely to have materially reduced the prospects of the appeal being prosecuted successfully.”
 

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