GM lobby group to reveal stars

By ANNE BESTON

Actor Sam Neill and squash champ Dame Susan Devoy are joining the GM debate but which side they will line up on remained secret yesterday.

The Herald understands former Federated Farmers national president-turned organic farmer Sir Peter Elworthy is also a member of the new lobby group, to be launched in Wellington today.

The group's intention is almost certainly to make their voices heard on the controversial issue in the lead-up to the election.

It is not the first time the famous and not-so-famous have swung into action over GM. Alannah Currie, former singer with 1980s pop group the Thompson Twins, heads a group called Mothers against Genetic Engineering.

The spokesman for the new group, Simon Terry, head of an energy and environmental consulting company, would not reveal its agenda before the official launch except to say he did not believe the group fell "into either camp".

He said five "eminent" New Zealanders would attend the launch.

But Life Sciences Network, arguably the most active pro-GM lobby group in the country, was obviously prepared to guess which side of the issue the new organisation would come down on.

The network yesterday pointedly reissued an old press release of "notable New Zealanders" who last year came out in support of the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification's "proceed with caution" recommendation.

They included chef Alison Holst and Ngai Tahu chairman Sir Tipene O'Regan.

The press release was originally issued during the three months of heated debate between the release of the commission's report and the Government's decision on its recommendations late last year.

That decision was to allow strictly controlled field trials and impose a moratorium on commercial release of GM organisms.

It angered anti-GM groups who are still pushing for a GM-free New Zealand and did not mollify Labour's future potential coalition partner the Green Party.

The Greens have since said they will withdraw their support for the Government on key confidence and supply votes if the moratorium is lifted when it expires in October next year.

Life Sciences Network is an umbrella organisation of scientists and industries involved in biotechnology. Last week it paid for pro-GM advertisements in daily newspapers, including the Herald.

Executive director Francis Wevers said he did not know what the new organisation would stand for but suspected it would come down on the anti-GM side.

Sir Peter Elworthy is converting his South Island farm to organics.

Organic farmers and producers generally see GM as a threat to their livelihoods because of the risk of contamination from plants or seeds that have been genetically modified.

Sam Neill hit the headlines two years ago over his furious opposition to what he called "incredibly short-sighted and stupid" subdivisions near Queenstown, where he owns a home.

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