By Sarah McMillan/cvnznews.com
New Zealand’s fast‑tracked overhaul of GMO regulation is drawing sharp warnings from campaigners who say the Government risks repeating the same legal and regulatory failures recently exposed in the United Kingdom’s High Court.
The Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Amendment Bill would loosen the evaluation of genetically modified organisms and hazardous substances. Critics say the drafting is vague, the process rushed, and the direction unclear — mirroring the UK’s Precision Breeding Act, which the High Court found had been advanced on “unlawful” advice.
GE‑Free NZ president Clare Bleakley says the similarities are alarming. “The HSNO Amendment Bill risks replicating the failures which the High Court has called out in the UK model,” she said, arguing that New Zealand is now following the same pattern of limited consultation and regulatory shortcuts.
The UK case was brought by Beyond GM, the country’s leading independent watchdog on genetic technologies. The group successfully challenged the UK Government’s push to deregulate gene‑edited organisms, with the Court ruling that the regulatory framework was incomplete, transitional, and pushed through without proper scrutiny.
Beyond GM spokesperson Pat Thomas said the ruling exposed a system built on speed rather than rigour. “The government chose speed over investigation. It prioritised reducing burdens on biotech developers before investigating the consequences for everyone else,” she said. The judgment, she added, confirmed that concerns raised by farmers, food producers and the organic sector were “legitimate and deserving of full consideration.”
GE‑Free NZ spokesman Jon Carapiet says New Zealand exporters should be deeply concerned. “This is a red alert for Fonterra, Zespri, Beef & Lamb and all exporters. They must stop system failure allowing gene‑editing exemptions that lose the tracing and labelling our markets demand.”
Campaigners argue that exemptions and redefinitions of new breeding techniques could undermine consumer trust and damage New Zealand’s primary sector brand.
Bleakley says the Primary Production Committee must now pause the Bill. “The lesson from the UK regulatory failure is clear. New Zealand must not allow the same vested interests and biased process to destroy our primary sector.”
