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| Thread ID: 22141 | 2002-07-13 00:28:00 | Corngate, appalling ignorance... | Terry Porritt (14) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 61985 | 2002-07-15 01:03:00 | > Nothing is perfect - not western medical science, not > eastern medical science, and not holistic alternative > science. Nothing is perfect. > > That goes for the GE debate too. Both sides have > points. There is merit in the arguments of both > camps, when you can get to the real arguments and > bypass the spin and hysteria on both sides. > > But I will say this - I do not for one moment believe > in the pipe dream of a GE-free NZ which will become > wealthy through the export of GE-free produce. > I believe we must be pragmatic, > and do our best to guide the adoption of > the technology and its affect on our lives. But to > try and stop it will not work, and will be a disaster > for our economy. We are too small to gamble liie > that. Bruce - some extrememly valid points, must concede, however as i said earlier and you too, there are alot of good for and against points. One of my main worries is the PREMATURE release of GE in N.Z - I feel alot more research is warranted, longterm use research in paticular, as it is still in its infancy - But I am sure N.Z will have no choice but to follow and keep up with the worldwide trend in release terms. Yes it is a pipe dream to think N.Z could stay GE free and in the long term could/would be to our disadvantage - But in 10 years time when/if the horror stories start to emerge people will be jumping up and down. (Hopefully that won't happen) - i am open to debate on this and my opinion is starting to sway abit more. |
J ZEP (336) | ||
| 61986 | 2002-07-15 01:09:00 | >>Name a previous advance in technology where resisting it and purging it >>from your economy has lead to such a commercial advantage? organic food, thats a growing global market, and GE/organic will be the A+ top product in the range. |
Chris Wilson (431) | ||
| 61987 | 2002-07-15 01:34:00 | This whole area has similarities to the Kyoto protocol, where NZ now runs the risk of being the only nation in its trading group to whack carbon taxes on energy. That will spell the end of competitive advantage for NZ and see us relegated downwards in economic prosperity, even though the ideals are correct. |
godfather (25) | ||
| 61988 | 2002-07-15 03:06:00 | >>Name a previous advance in technology where resisting it and purging it >>from your economy has lead to such a commercial advantage? >organic food, thats a growing global market, and GE/organic will be the A+ top product in the range. Sorry - but the commercial advantage is not yet proven. Organic GE-free food is still not the major basis of our agricultural income. It is growing, but it remains a niche market at present. And yet some Greens would advocate that we should throw away any advantages to be gained via GE technology in favour of pursuing a totally GE-free, organic agricultutal base. This disturbs me because putting all our free-range GE-free eggs in one basket is never a good idea. NZ has been caught out before by over-dependance ohn one source of income - Great Britain. The advent of the Common Market was not good for NZ and we have spent a great deal of time since then attempting to find new markets and diversify our agricultutral base. In light of this past, and the knowledge that markets, tastes, and global politics are subject to change, it would be naive to believe that shutting out GE from our economy is a magic bullet. Magic bullets exist only in fantasy. In the real world you need to spread the risk, and that means investing in agricultural technologies other than pure organic, GE-free. I'd hate to wake up in 30 years and discover that going GE-free/organic did not translate into a source of wealth for the country, but that the lack of advance in agricultural science implicit in a 100% GE-free/organic economy meant we'd become a third-world agricultural nation. Do you really want to gamble on that? I cannot take on faith the notion that GE-free/organic, by deafult, is the path to riches. |
Biggles (121) | ||
| 61989 | 2002-07-15 03:35:00 | OK OK, i'll agree to disagree. how about a nice compromise, a GE free mainland?????? |
Chris Wilson (431) | ||
| 61990 | 2002-07-15 03:38:00 | > OK OK, > i'll agree to disagree. > how about a nice compromise, a GE free > mainland?????? Hmmm, what about Stewart Island? Oh yeah, you can keep Invergargill too. And we'll throw in Gore to sweeten the deal ... |
Biggles (121) | ||
| 61991 | 2002-07-15 03:41:00 | Will you settle for Stewart Island Chris... BTW, did you know that if you allocated 1 sq foot per person, you could fit earths entire population of mankind on Stewart Island? |
godfather (25) | ||
| 61992 | 2002-07-15 04:13:00 | Bruce.. i assume you have heard the infamous quote from the very early days of the rolling stones, back when they toured this tiny widdle country called NZ, and played Invercargill "invercargill is the ******** of the universe" Mic Jagger. how about Canterbury, then i wont have to move... actually theres this park across the road from me called "jade" or something, that doesn't seem to be doing anything very useful |
Chris Wilson (431) | ||
| 61993 | 2002-07-15 06:26:00 | Bruce, you are very definitely in the wrong job... ;-) Thanks for your contribution, you have spoken a lot of sense on this matter. Hey team, who wants Bruce for Prime Minister? Hands up!! :D |
Susan B (19) | ||
| 61994 | 2002-07-15 06:31:00 | Actually I think Bruce has a future in journalism...Oh wait...he is... Well said Bruce |
godfather (25) | ||
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