Northland Councils Move To Regulate Some GMOs | Stuff.co.nz

Northland Councils Move To Regulate Some GMOs | Stuff.co.nz

A recommendation to regulate outdoor use of genetically modified organisms has delighted GE Free Northland chairwoman Zelka Grammer.

She says the inter-council report is a complete vindication of what "our councils and other councils are doing".
An inter-council working party has recommended that member councils consider regulating the outdoor use of GMOs under the Resource Management Act through their planning documents.

This would involve inserting objectives, policies and rules in existing district plans in Northland and in the Auckland Council's new unitary plan, to prohibit the release of genetically modified organisms to the environment and make field trialling of GMOs a discretionary activity, subject to liability conditions for any environmental or economic harm that may eventuate.

The inter-council working group comprises the Far North, Kaipara and Whangarei district councils and the Auckland Council. Northland Regional Council is a member but did not participate in the project.

Mrs Grammer says GE Free Northland is very pleased with the findings, which she says are of huge national significance.

"Auckland and Northland have an amazing opportunity to be the first in the country to achieve enforceable rules in local plans on a regional basis," she says.