If the Gene Technology Bill is passed, how many additional doctors will New Zealand need?

 Currently, there are 19,350 doctors in New Zealand; that’s one for every 264 people. According to Hon. Judith Collins, New Zealand’s Minister for Business Innovation and Enterprise (“MBIE”), New Zealanders are all going to live longer and enjoy better health as a result of the massive deregulation contained in the Gene Technology Bill (“the Bill”).

Gene technology in our healthcare system is going to require some extra highly skilled doctors, but how many and how much will it cost us?

High-profile billionaire biohacker Bryan Johnson, 47, boasts that he only ages 8 months every year. So that is something we could all aim for. Bryan spends just $2 million a year on his health, he has 30 doctors and recently increased his pill intake to 91 pills a day.

So, the aspirational ratio is about 30 doctors for every person. We could probably accept a few less than that, but we might not live quite as long as Bryan. Probably best to go by trial and error. Start with a modest 10 doctors per person and see how long we can all live. A lot of farmers will need to retrain and we might need to import more food. Most people would be doctors.

Joking apart, gene technology is insatiable when it comes to doctors and costs. The astronomical salaries of experts, expensive equipment, CRISPR patent fees and the constant need for testing associated with personalised genetic therapies all add up. If you think that the $10,000 estimate your builder gave you for a veranda renovation is too high, you might baulk at the multimillion-dollar costs for your individual gene renovation.

But don’t worry, the government is determined to foot the Bill on our behalf. A clause in the Bill requires that New Zealand automatically adopt any old gene technology as long as any other two countries have approved it. If it all works out, it is going to be like new dance moves in the 1980s, everyone will be doing it.

However published science shows this might just be a ridiculous dream, it is time to wake up....<<<Read More>>>...

Because of the “success” of covid, New Zealand has introduced a Gene Technology Bill

 The dream of biotechnology, which promised a new age of health and human achievement, has become a nightmare, with its success stories being largely myths and its main beneficiaries being transnational corporations.

The covid-19 pandemic is viewed as the greatest success story of biotechnology, but it has also highlighted the risks and dangers of the industry, with the development of a deadly disease and a vaccine that has harmed many people.

This covid “success” has led to the New Zealand government introducing the Gene Technology Bill, which contains permissive legislation that favours transnational corporations and ignores public safety and environmental concerns.

The bill’s introduction is believed to be driven by trade negotiations with the US, which wants New Zealand to deregulate biotechnology to pave the way for similar deregulation in Europe.

Meanwhile, Australia already has a Gene Technology Regulator who has announced a project that is proposing to make gene-altered versions of the flu and then test out various genetic drugs and/or vaccines on human volunteers.

If you ask Google what are the biotechnology success stories, it comes up with slim pickings.

First up is a list of patented genetically engineered crops like cotton, soya and corn. These types are paired with proprietary pesticide products.

A March 2023 report from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (“AMS”) says a consolidation trend within the agricultural seed industry began when the first genetically engineered traits were introduced to the market in the early 1990s. Since then, more than 200 US seed companies have been acquired or gone out of business. The result is a concentration of market share among four seed companies.

A June 2023 report by the USDA Economic Research Service (“ERS”) found that when combined, AgReliant, Bayer, Corteva and Syngenta accounted for 83% of corn seed sales and 78% of soyabean seed sales in the United States from 2018 to 2020. The trend is continuing, Bayer has just announced the consolidation of a further 10 regional seed brands in 2025.

This so-called success story of biotechnology is not about more nutritious strains, increased yields, etc., these largely remain the stuff of myth. It is about the profits of transnational corporations that control a concentration of intellectual property (“IP”) in the form of patented genetics and traits. This has left farmers trapped in an unsustainable cycle of heightened input costs and depressed commodity prices. This is not a route for New Zealand farming to travel. Much of the allure of New Zealand produce is our pristine shores and clean green image. The genetically engineered (“GE”) route leads to corporate slavery, trade barriers, public rejection and rock bottom prices.

Next up on Google is a list of biotech startups that promise a lot, but do they deliver...<<<Read More>>>...