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NZTech Digital

NZ’s outdated GMO regulations hamstring battle with climate crisis

One of New Zealand’s most divisive political issues is back in the spotlight as the Government moves to review some aspects of our decades-old regulation on genetic modification, reports Newshub Nation.

“Widespread protests in the 90s and a Royal Commission in 2001 led to New Zealand adopting some of the most stringent genetic modification regulations in the world.”

But BioTechNZ Executive Director Zahra Champion says, “Back in the early 2000s…we were actually taking bits of DNA from one organism and putting it in another organism that may not even be the same species. So back then it does feel very Frankenstein, it does feel very foreign, and if feels very scary. Technology has moved on so far now. This is not the technology that we are using today.”

Since then, organisations, including the Climate Commission and the Productivity Commission, have called for a review of the current status as a result of these new technologies.

Scientists say that gene editing could mean small variations to key genes to help plants cope better with climate change or provide better nutrition for humans.

Read the full story here.

NZTech Digital