GM Trees Chopped Down in New Zealand

19.1.2008

Anti-GM pro­test­ers have cut down 19 genet­i­cal­ly mod­i­fied pine trees at a research site near Rotorua. The attack hap­pened at some stage over the week­end.


19.1.2008

Anti-GM pro­test­ers have cut down 19 genet­i­cal­ly mod­i­fied pine trees at a research site near Rotorua. The attack hap­pened at some stage over the week­end.

A 1.5 metre hole was found along the fence­line, made of 3.5 metre high elec­tri­fied wire. The crop destroy­ers are assumed to have bur­rowed through that hole before chop­ping down the trees, almost 1/4 of the 80 trees on the site.

Police found a spade with a “GE Free New Zealand” stick­er on it lean­ing up against the fence. No group has yet claimed respon­si­bil­i­ty for the attack.

The Rotorua site was the same one protest­ed against in 2005, where four peo­ple were arrest­ed, one of whom was also pep­per sprayed by Police. That protest was organ­ised by the Peo­ple’s Mora­to­ri­um Enforce­ment Agency, who have cel­e­brat­ed the week­end’s action.

“The destruc­tion of the GE trees in Rotorua high­lights the resis­tance to genet­ic engi­neer­ing in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Because ERMA is not stop­ping GE mate­r­i­al from being released into the envi­ron­ment, the peo­ple of Aotearoa have to inter­vene,” said PMEA spokesper­son Felic­i­ty Per­ry.

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On Mon­day, envi­ron­men­tal sabo­teurs cir­cum­vent­ed an elec­tri­fied secu­ri­ty fence by tun­nel­ing under­neath it, and chopped down 20 genet­i­cal­ly engi­neered trees.

Rotorua, New Zealand — Envi­ron­men­tal sabo­teurs appear to be respon­si­ble for the destruc­tion of field tri­al crop of genet­i­cal­ly mod­i­fied radi­a­ta pine and Nor­way spruce trees at the Crown Research Insti­tute Scion’s base. On Mon­day, van­dals cir­cum­vent­ed an elec­tri­fied secu­ri­ty fence by tun­nel­ing under­neath it, and chopped down 20 genet­i­cal­ly engi­neered trees.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10487121

A spade with a “GE Free New Zealand” stick­er was left behind, appar­ent­ly to make sure author­i­ties new why the night­time raid was car­ried out. Researchers will like­ly be forced to aban­don this par­tic­u­lar exper­i­ment since a full 20% of their trees were destroyed.

http://gefree.org.nz