Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Peters says gene technology overhaul unlikely before election

Gene Tech Bill

NZ First leader Winston Peters said a major overhaul of genetic modification laws would not pass before the election and was likely to become an election issue.

As part of National’s coalition agreements with ACT and NZ First, the proposed Gene Technology Bill would end an effective 30-year ban on gene editing outside the laboratory and open the door to releasing modified organisms.

Speaking in Cambridge on Sunday, Peters said the coalition deal made NZ First’s support conditional on adequate safeguards, and the party was not yet satisfied the protections were there.



He said New Zealand’s export reputation was built on its GE-free label and would not be sacrificed for “other party’s political agendas”. Read more at RNZ, The Centrist and Louise Vicente on the RCR blog, watch Winston Peters’ speech and follow RCR’s Gene Tech Action Tracker.

Image credit: Julia Koblitz

This story has been republished with permission from RCR Bites. For news like this direct and free to your Inbox every day, go to biteme.news to sign up for RCR Bites.

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7 COMMENTS

  1. Amazing how responsible they all become in an election year. Shame they are not as diligent the rest of the time.

  2. That’s not the worst of it… If you speak out against mRNA technology, 5 years jail for you… if you refuse to take a mandated jab $100,000 fine for individuals, businesses who refuse to mandate their employees up to a million dollars in fines…AND NO ACCOUNTABILITY IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG, IE YOU GET JAB DAMAGED OR WORSE YET DIE.. BECAUSE THEY CAN SAY IT WAS ALL DONE IN GOOD FAITH…THIS IS IN THAT BILL… it must not be passed…keep in mind Luxon wants cameras everywhere, digital ID and facial recognition…it’s about stopping you from going anywhere if you are unjabbed, untested or whatever they deem to mandate next time… and there IS going to be a next time, they are just waiting to pull the trigger when things on the world stage allow it…GET US OUT OF THE UN, THE WEF, THE WHO… SACK THE MEDICAL COUNCIL OF NZ… GIVE DOCTORS FREEDOM….NOW….OTHERWISE WE ARE GOING TO GO THRU HELL….ON EARTH…IN NZ…

    • And for those not paying attention – it’s not Jacinda Ardern doing this, it’s the fake democracy uni-party.
      Party politics is the problem – not the solution.

  3. I cannot recall a political party ever campaigning for Gene technology. The law should be, if a political party didn’t campaign on it, the government has no mandate to pass a law. without a binding referendum.

    Secret agendas are not in the slightest democratic. It is long past time for people to have genuine and powerful voice. What citizens have now is ineffective. Switzerland has democracy because it has regular referendums.

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