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Context
Climate Change, Farmer protests, Biodiversity loss, Market for clean, safe food
Government policy to commercialise Gene Technology
Follow-up to Jessica Hutchings - Te Ao Maori
Professor Jack Heinemann
Consumer view, marketing science and research
Important Economic lens - Double exports in 10 years
Navigating a middle path
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The situation
No commercial GMO crops in NZ
NZ-grown fruit, vegetables are GE-free
Imported GE in soy, maize, animal feed…
'Off the public radar’
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The debate
NZ is missing out
Gene Editing is improved genetic engineering
GE is everywhere, ’in your soy latte’
Consumers don’t care
GE is substantially equivalent (to nature)
Lapsed memory of NZ field trials
Market demand for
GE-free and organic food
Prepared for Soil & Health, March 2024
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What consumers really want
Trust in regulation and lessons for navigating the future
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look at ……
Consumer landscape
Lessons from Europe and US
Lessons from the past
Priorities for regulation
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Global demand for
GE-free, organic food
is growing
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https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/non-gmo-food-market-106359
The global non-GMO food market is projected to grow from USD 623.96 billion in 2021 to USD 1,231.13 billion in 2028 @ CAGR of 10.20%
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Consumer attitudes
to Gene Editing
Citizen views on genome editing: effects of species and purpose
Vol.:(0123456789)1 3Agriculture and Human Values
Gesa Busch· Erin Ryan · Marina A. G. von Keyserlingk· Daniel M. Weary
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Clusters of participants regarding attitudes towards GE applications
Purchase intent…
GE technologies are the most rejected technology (43%)
Controlled environment agriculture the most accepted (62%)
https://www.plantandfood.com/en-nz/article/the-future-urban-consumer-attitudes-and-perceptions-towards-new-food/
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Based on 80+ focus groups - Australia, New Zealand, Viet Nam and Singapore.
Gene edited and GMO technologies, cell-cultured foods, robotic technologies and controlled environment agriculture systems, such as vertical farming.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195666322005062?via=ihub
Consumers don’t differentiate between gene edited and GMO
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://www.nongmoproject.org/wp-content/uploads/non-gmo-project-natural-shopper-report-012024https.pdf
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https://www.nongmoproject.org/wp-content/uploads/non-gmo-project-natural-shopper-report-012024.pdf
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https://www.academia.edu/106597660/Work_With_the_Grain_of_Nature_Not_Against_It
Work With the Grain of Nature, Not Against It
“There is already plenty of evidence of just what can be achieved through applying more knowledge and fewer chemicals to diverse cropping systems. These are genuinely sustainable methods.”
As an example of working with the grain of nature, I happen to believe that if a fraction of the money currently being invested in developing genetically manipulated crops were applied to understanding and improving traditional systems of agriculture, which have stood the all-important test of time, the results would be remarkable. There is already plenty of evidence of just what can be achieved through applying more knowledge and fewer chemicals to diverse cropping systems. These are genuinely sustainable methods. And they are far removed from the approaches based on monoculture which lend themselves to large-scale commercial exploitation, and which Vandana Shiva condemned so persuasively and so convincingly in her lecture.
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We should show greater respect for the genius of nature's designs - rigorously tested and refined over millions of years. This means being careful to use science to understand how nature works - not to change what nature is, as we do when genetic manipulation seeks to transform the process of biological evolution into something altogether different. The idea that the different parts of the natural world are connected through an intricate system of checks and balances which we disturb at our peril is all too easily dismissed as no longer relevant. So, in an age when we are told that science has all the answers, what chance is there for working with the grain of nature?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/may/18/religion.uk
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Natural vs GE Microbes - working with or against Nature?
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Trust and Reputation
Market demand for safe, natural,
high-quality food fits with
Brand New Zealand
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https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/130054566/new-zealands-brand-worth-440-billion-but-what-exactly-is-bra%C2%A9
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NZ’s supermarket house-brands and leading exporters are GE-free
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https://www.nzmp.com/global/en/products/fonterra-sustainability-solutions/unqiue-claims-content/natural-dairy-claims.html
https://www.nzmp.com/global/en/news/navigating-the-organic-dairy-landscape.html
https://www.nzmp.com/global/en/news/growth-of-organic-dairy.html
Non-GMO soy is the norm for brands of soy-milk
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Lessons from Europe
Even those who are open
to GE food want
Gene Edited products
tested, traced and labelled
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Support for traceability of food from
New Genomic Techniques (NGTs)
75% of US consumers
80% of UK consumers
https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2022/06/28/gene-editing-foods
Supermarket brands are backing the consumer
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Supermarket chain Co-op has said it will not be stocking gene-edited foods in response to an open letter sent to them backed by more than 50 NGOs and food policy experts.
“The letter urges UK supermarkets “to listen to your customers… be respectful of nature and science, to be mindful of the future and to demonstrate leadership by joining us in opposing the deregulation of genome-edited crops and livestock in England and the rest of the UK”.
EU voted to deregulate gene editing but keep tracing and labelling
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“Inevitably there will be consequences for businesses and farmers and for consumer trust.”
Pat Thomas, Director of Beyond GM
Important consumer wins in the new EU regime
Mandatory labelling of category 1 organisms (with so-called simple alterations)
Category 2 organisms (with complex alterations and/or foreign genetic material) also labelled.
Exclusion of herbicide tolerant plants (but not pesticide producing plants) from category 1
Mandatory audit trails to trace gene edited organisms through the food system
Clear path to withdraw the authorisation if monitoring reveals problems
Clearer reporting rules on effects on biodiversity and the environment
Risk assessment for category 2 gene edited organisms (including impacts on organics).
EU laboratory to affirm claims that there are no detection methods for their genetic creations.
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https://beyond-gm.org/eu-votes-to-deregulate-gene-editing/
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GM Watch - 12 January 2024
Detection is possible, with prior knowledge of the relevant genetic sequence and reference materials, from the developer as a condition of their approval.
Detection of new GMOs is possible and necessary for transparency and public trust
Industry lobby against EU citizens. Consumers want regulation of both the old and new genetic techniques
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Corporate Europe Observatory expose Industry lobbying tactics to deregulate new GMOs
Industry lobbyists in New Zealand too
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ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AT-bhAwtzs
Mark Lynas - an author of the Ecomodernist Manifesto which promotes the idea for high technology and entrepreneurial innovation to “decouple” human civilisation from the natural world.
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Lessons from the past
Promises, hopes
and risks for the future
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https://pce.parliament.nz/publications/archive/1997-2006/key-lessons-from-the-history-of-science-and-technology-knowns-and-unknowns-breakthroughs-and-cautions
The science debate - claimed superiority of gene editing
SCALE, speed and depth of intervention
CRISPR/cas - change to conserved regions of genome
Substantial equivalence - unscientific assumptions
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https://www.testbiotech.org/en/limits-to-biotech/crispr
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https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/news-releases/aap/2023/american-academy-of-pediatrics-describes-benefits-risks-and-unknowns-about-gmo-based-foods-and-childrens-health/
The American Academy of Pediatrics analyzes the use of genetically modified organism (GMO)-based foods and their effect on children’s health in a new clinical report that urges more research and transparency in labeling to help families make informed decisions when shopping for food.
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Lab-grown meat - 25 times worse for the climate than beef
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2372229-lab-grown-meat-could-be-25-times-worse-for-the-climate-than-beef/
Risk to nature - US EPA allows novel RNAi pesticide
https://cen.acs.org/environment/pesticides/EPA-allows-novel-RNAi-pesticide/102/i1
GE Rye-grass trials failure vs other methane reduction strategies
https://newsroom.co.nz/2023/07/03/grass-isnt-greener-for-gm-trial-in-australia/
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/12/2/238
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Concern for animal welfare
GE animals as biorectors
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https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/08/29/65364/recombinetics-gene-edited-hornless-cattle-major-dna-screwup/
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/mutant-cows-die-in-gm-trial/UNAM73ED3VXZJFX7MXU7VYAZ74/
https://www.gefree.org.nz/assets/pdf/GE-Animals-in-New-Zealand.pdf
Plant-based food
…without GE/ lab-grown meat
NZ’s major brands of plant protein are GM-Free
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‘Impossible Burger’ stopped using GMO soy as the main ingredient for key export markets
https://www.gefree.org.nz/press-releases-2019-2023/20230427/
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https://ipes-food.org/reports/
Looks at misleading generalisations in public discussion about meat and protein
Warns of the risks of falling for meat techno-fixes
Calls for a shift in focus away from protein hype to a transformation for sustainable food systems
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Is NZ really missing out?
The biggest hurdles are consumers, funding and marketing
Survey of the biotechnology sector ….
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GMO in the USA, a decade of promises without commercialisation
Just 6 NGT products on the US market
In 2012, the first exemption from GMO from regulatory requirements - a vine genetically modified by cisgenesis, one of the new genomic techniques.
Since then, nearly a hundred new GMOs have been given a similar decision.
https://www.infogm.org/7911-usa-gmo-a-decade-of-promises-without-commercialization?lang=fr
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Patents and Liability
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/28/gm-canola-organic-farmer-loses-court-case-over-alleged-contamination
https://partnerre.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/GMO_-_Not_New_But_Still_An_Emerging_Liability_Risk.pdf
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https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1315&context=eilr
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Priorities for an ethical
Gene Technology strategy
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Protect Nature
Organic and GE-Free production
Consumer and farmer rights
Tracing and system integrity
Prevention of animal cruelty
Liability on IP patent holders /users
Market demand for
GE-free and organic food
Prepared for Soil & Health, March 2024
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What consumers really want
Trust in regulation and lessons for navigating the future