did invite the PM to breakfast this morning along with a
Labour representative. However, the PM did not accept the
invitation and so a Christopher Luxon lookalike took his
place / Supplied
The “Prime
Minister” enjoyed a bowl of pretend poisonous porridge on
parliament steps with Greenpeace this morning.
The
breakfast at parliament, attended by a Christopher Luxon
lookalike, highlights the Government’s
proposal to raise the legal limit of glyphosate residues
allowed in staple grains like wheat, oats and barley – from
0.1 mg/kg to 10 mg/kg – a 100-fold increase.
For
wheat, this new limit is double what’s permitted in
Australia and Canada.
“I know the Luxon government has
been feeding schoolkids melted plastic for lunch, but
seasoning their breakfast with 100 times more toxic
herbicide residue is a new low,” says Greenpeace campaigner
Gen Toop.
“Our kids, and every New Zealander, have a
right to safe food. But this Government is proposing to
allow 100 times more of a probable carcinogen onto the
grains that feed us every day.”
Glyphosate
is the key ingredient in Roundup, and the
World Health Organisation classifies it as a probable
human carcinogen. They also say it’s potentially genotoxic,
meaning it could damage DNA.
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Bayer –
which bought out Monsanto – sells the herbicide and has
already been ordered by U.S. courts to pay billions to
people harmed by Roundup, with another
60,000 legal cases still pending.
The Government
has invited submissions
on their proposal, which are due on May 16.
“The Prime
Minister seems more interested in the profits of big
agrichemical giants like Bayer than they are in the health
of New Zealanders,” says Toop.
“Instead of making it
easier to spray toxic chemicals on our food, the Government
should be supporting farmers to transition to ecological
farming that protects people and the
planet.”
Greenpeace did invite the Prime Minister to
breakfast this morning along with a Labour representative.
However, the Prime Minister did not accept the invitation
and so a Christopher Luxon lookalike took his
place.
