What's happening in New Zealand

[Guest guest]

While we have our own fights for food freedom here, check out what's going on in

NZ.

Susie Z

> http://www.sovereignindependent.com/?p=30276

>

>

> New Food Bill In New Zealand Takes Away Human Right To Grow Food

>

> New Food Bill In New Zealand Takes Away Human Right To Grow Food

>

> Beforeitsnews.com

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> I was shocked to learn from a friend on the weekend that a new Food Bill is

being brought in here in New Zealand. The new bill will make it a privilege and

not a right to grow food.

>

> I find two aspects of this bill alarming. The first is the scope and impact

the new bill has, and secondly that it has all happened so quietly. There has

been VERY little media coverage, on a bill which promises to jeopardise the

future food security of the country.

>

> I read that the bill is being brought in because of the WTO, which of course

has the US FDA behind it, and of course that is influenced by big business

(Monsanto and other players). It looks like this NZ food bill will pave the way

to reduce the plant diversity and small owner operations in New Zealand, for

example by way of controlling the legality of seed saving and

trading/barter/giving away; all will be potentially illegal. The best website to

read about the problems with the new bill is nzfoodsecurity.org (I have no

connection with this website)

>

> Here are some snippets:

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> - It turns a human right (to grow food and share it) into a

government-authorised privilege that can be summarily revoked.

>

> - It makes it illegal to distribute “food†without authorisation, and it

defines “food†in such a way that it includes nutrients, seeds, natural

medicines, essential minerals and drinks (including water).

>

> - By controlling seeds, the bill takes the power to grow food away from the

public and puts it in the hands of seed companies. That power may be abused.

>

> - Growing food for distribution must be authorised, even for “cottage

industriesâ€, and such authorisation can be denied.

>

> - Under the Food Bill, Police acting as Food Safety Officers can raid premises

without a warrant, using all equipment they deem necessary – including guns

(Clause 265 – 1).

>

> - Members of the private sector can also be Food Safety Officers, as at Clause

243. So Monsanto employees can raid premises – including marae – backed up

by armed police.

>

> - The Bill gives Food Safety Officers immunity from criminal and civil

prosecution.

>

> - The Government has created this bill to keep in line with its World Trade

Organisation obligations under an international scheme called Codex Alimentarius

(“Food Bookâ€). So it has to pass this bill in one form or another.

>

> - The bill would undermine the efforts of many people to become more

self-sufficient within their local communities.

>

> - Seed banks and seed-sharing networks could be shut down if they could not

obtain authorisation. Loss of seed variety would make it more difficult to grow

one’s own food.

>

> - Home-grown food and some or all seed could not be bartered on a scale or

frequency necessary to feed people in communities where commercially available

food has become unaffordable or unavailable (for example due to economic

collapse).

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> - Restrictions on the trade of food and seed would quickly lead to the

permanent loss of heirloom strains, as well as a general lowering of plant

diversity in agriculture.

>

> - Organic producers of heirloom foods could lose market share to big-money

agribusiness outfits, leading to an increase in the consumption of nutrient-poor

and GE foods..

> _______________________________________

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