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2 May 2018 The Soil & Health Association welcomes the Environmental Protection Authority’s announcement to review the use of neonicotinoid pesticides in New Zealand but wants them to act now and ban their use immediately. The EPA’s announcement, made yesterday, is in response to the European Union member states’ decision last week to…
The Soil & Health Association welcomes a decision released today by the Environment Court declining Federated Farmers’ attempt to challenge regulation of genetically modified organisms under the RMA. In the latest case before the Environment Court, Whangarei District Council appealed the Northland Council’s Regional Policy Statement, asking to delete one word – ‘plants’…
Media release: Soil & Health Association of NZ 14 March 2018 The Soil & Health Association is encouraging the New Plymouth District Council to adopt precautionary provisions in the New Plymouth District Plan for any genetically engineered (genetically modified) organisms that may be trialled or used commercially. The Proposed Draft New Plymouth District Plan as…
The Soil & Health Association is encouraging the Waikato District Council to adopt precautionary provisions in the Waikato District Plan for any genetically engineered organisms that may be trialled or commercially produced. The plan as currently drafted fails to regulate, or make any mention at all of GMOs. “We want to ensure that the Council…
The Soil & Health Association is celebrating the decision by Federated Farmers to abandon its appeal against the right of councils to control the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their territories. Federated Farmers filed its latest appeal earlier this year in the Court of Appeal, after its appeals to the Environment Court and…
The Soil & Health Association is thrilled that newly released standards for forestry no longer include a controversial clause that would have allowed the planting of genetically engineered (GE) trees across New Zealand. Released by MPI last week, the National Environmental Standard for Plantation Forestry (NES-PF) provides regulations to manage the environmental effects of forestry….
8 August 2017 A fourth-generation farmer has been selected as the new chair of the Soil & Health Association, following its AGM. Until 2014 Graham Clarke was a sheep and beef farmer for over 30 years in South Otago at Marama Farm, which was certified organic by BioGro for close to 10 years. “I’m passionate…
Our public agencies must protect human health and ecosystems, and use rigorous independent science rather than industry data, says the Soil & Health Association. Soil & Health welcomes the release of a paper by the Green Party that exposes many flaws in an Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) report on glyphosate-based herbicides (such as Roundup). The…
The Soil & Health Association has serious concerns about another GE food line being approved in New Zealand – this time for six food lines derived from potatoes. Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), the organisation that controls food approvals for New Zealand and Australia, is calling for submissions on an application to permit GE…
High nitrate levels recently measured in the Tasman’s Waimea Plains signal yet another alarm bell for the health of our waterways, and the urgent need to reduce or eliminate the use of soluble nitrogen fertilisers, says the Soil & Health Association. “Fencing off waterways and riparian planting is all well and good, but it’s not…
Kiwis want to take off the blindfold we have when it comes to buying food. That’s the message of the Soil & Health Association, which welcomes the Consumers’ Right to Know (Labelling of Country of Origin of Food) Bill currently before a parliamentary select committee. The Bill requires all single component foods, packaged and unpackaged,…
The Government seems hell-bent on denying the rights of communities to have GE-free zones, which are under threat from a ‘dictator clause’, says the Soil & Health Association. “We are continuing to stand by all the communities around New Zealand who, quite rightly, want to have control over what happens with GMOs in their regions,”…
5th April 2017 The Soil & Health Association welcomes a change to the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill regarding genetic engineering, but says it still does not go far enough. Yesterday the controversial RLA Bill passed the committee stage, meaning that amendments can no longer be made to the Bill. The Bill is now expected to…
The Soil & Health Association congratulates the Maori Party for standing up for New Zealanders who want to live in a GE-Free community and saying no to Nick Smith’s attempt to ride roughshod over local democracy. “Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox has told the Environment Minister they will not support his attempts to regulate genetically…
A new court ruling highlights how the Government’s RMA reforms will ride roughshod over public participation in resource management and the power of councils to regulate the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) within their territories, says Soil & Health Association chair Marion Thomson. On Friday the High Court rejected Federated Farmers’ bid to oppose…
In a “state of the science” review released today, Pesticide Action Network (PAN) International presents a large body of research documenting the adverse human health and environmental impacts of glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides and underscores the need for these to be phased out globally. Environmental and health advocates say the monograph on the world’s most…
GE Free Northland and the Soil & Health Association are celebrating the Far North and Whangarei District Councils’ decisions to retain precautionary and prohibitive genetically modified organisms (GMOs) provisions in their new District Plans. This follows Auckland Council’s recent decision to retain similar precautionary and prohibitive GMO provisions in the new Unitary Plan. The result…
New Zealand’s biotech industry is not under threat as a result of a High Court ruling upholding an Environment Court’s decision to give regional councils control over use and release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their district, says the Soil and Health Association. The High Court ruling on Wednesday was based on an appeal…
The High Court has today upheld the ruling that regional councils do have the right to decide on the provisions, policies, and rules regarding the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their region. The Soil & Health Association (Soil & Health) celebrates this landmark decision as a win not only in the fight…
The Soil & Health Association congratulates Auckland Council on its decision to retain the valuable precautionary and prohibitive genetically modified organisms (GMOs) provisions in the new Auckland Unitary Plan, which protect the Auckland region’s GE-free status. Auckland Council is now the second local authority in New Zealand to officially become GE-Free in its local plan,…
The organic community celebrated the landmark merger of two long-established charitable organisations yesterday. Members of the Soil & Health Association of NZ Inc and the New Zealand Biological Producers and Consumers Society Inc (BioGro Society) voted in favour of the proposal. This means that the Society will transfer its assets to Soil & Health, on…