Greens to host author attacked by liberals

By SIMON COLLINS, science reporter

Green MP Sue Kedgley has agreed to host a public meeting for a visiting American author who is under attack for not disclosing his links with the transcendental meditation movement.

Jeffrey M. Smith, whose book Seeds of Deception has been republished in New Zealand by Green Party candidate Craig Potton, is described in the book as having worked on genetically modified foods for "nonprofit and political groups".

The Auckland-based Institute for Liberal Values has produced a 5000-word report showing that those nonprofit groups were associated with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's transcendental meditation (TM) movement based in Fairfield, Iowa, where Mr Smith lives.

He confirmed in Auckland yesterday that he worked for the movement and stood as a candidate for the US Congress for its Natural Law Party in 1998.

His book has been given a new title in New Zealand, Hard to Swallow: The Dangers of GE Food, An International Expose. Ms Kedgley will host a public meeting for him in her Wellington electorate office on Monday night.

The book details evidence that the effects of genetically modifying organisms are unpredictable and potentially disastrous for people who eat modified foods.

Mr Smith said GM was still not a big issue in the US because the biotechnology industry had spent millions persuading the mainstream American media that anti-GM activists were "Luddites".

He chose to publish the US version of his book himself because a previous anti-GM book had been pulled by its commercial publisher when GM manufacturer Monsanto threatened it with a law suit three days before publication date.

So far Seeds of Deception has sold 15,000 copies in the US.

Craig Potton spokesman Robbie Burton said 2000 copies of Hard to Swallow were printed in New Zealand.

The author of the Institute for Liberal Values report, Auckland bookseller Jim Peron who migrated here from the US two years ago, said he decided to investigate Mr Smith after hearing on the radio that he had once stood for the US Senate.

The institute's eight board members include Act MP Rodney Hide. But Mr Peron said the institute had no formal association with the Act party and he personally was not a member of any political party.