On the so-called 5th anniversary of COVID-19 (which evidence shows actually started circulating around five and half years ago), two big German newspapers—Zeit and Süddeutsche Zeitung— have broken an important story.. Back in early 2020 the German intelligence service concluded with 80-95% accuracy that COVID-19 resulted from a lab leak at Wuhan, but Chancellor Angela Merkel deliberately buried the report as did her successor Olaf Scholz. The German public and members of parliament were left completely in the dark. The media brainwashed the public with the misleading zoonotic or ‘natural origin’ fables that Anthony Fauci and Peter Daszak constructed and widely circulated to hide the outcome of their gain of function experimentation. The government stood silently by and labeled those asking questions about COVID-19 origins ‘conspiracy theorists’. Why?

Over here in little New Zealand (appropriately enough on the night of a total lunar eclipse) we are still left in total COVID-19 darkness. We are being incorrectly informed by our government, supported by a compliant and spineless media, that biotechnology experimentation is a slam dunk—completely safe, an economic miracle, a public health panacea and something to enthusiastically emulate. Apparently, our government is blind to the now glaringly obvious and scientifically verified risks of biotechnology experimentation. 

Starting at the lab origin of COVID-19, it is only a very short step to ask some difficult questions about what biotech scientists are getting up to and why. A paper published in Nature in February 2025 entitled “A humanized NOVA1 splicing factor alters mouse vocal communications” might give us a heads up. Twelve researchers undertook the work at the Rockefeller University NY financially supported by NIH (in other words it was funded by the US government). In brief, using CRISPR editing, a human amino acid variant of a gene NOVA1 was spliced into mice who then made slightly higher pitched distress calls than their unaltered cousins when separated from their mothers. Adult genetically altered male mice also made slightly different sounds when meeting females.

Join with me in feeling lucky we are not mice. However, if the New Zealand government has its way we might just become mice, metaphorically speaking. The Gene Technology Bill currently before the New Zealand parliament contains no red lines, leaving nothing off the table when it comes to juggling genes. I suppose New Zealand biotech ‘experts’ are getting their unfortunate mice into line ready for the big day when they can torture them however they wish. I use the word ‘torture’ deliberately, no other word fits. Or is it the other way around? Are there some genes that scientists are itching to put into humans to see what happens—how loud we squeak when separated from our mothers or go on our first date?

If you are a farmer seduced by government promises of opportunities and profits, why not talk to your brothers and sisters overseas, some of whom have been on the receiving end of biotech crops for decades? An article published in the journal Science in 2025 is entitled “Too much of a good thing: Lessons from compromised rootworm Bt maize in the US Corn Belt“. It details substantial economic losses for farmers building up over 12 years as rootworm pests develop resistance to the Bt corn that was designed to eliminate them.

As I presented dire research findings about biotechnology risks to the Health Select Committee on Monday, I was met with the three monkeys—see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. It seems that real scientific assessment is off the menu at parliament in favour of seductive glossy brochures from vested interests which promise the earth. In fact, published studies indicate the Gene Technology Bill setting us all up for failure, disappointment and disease.

I am beginning to get a strange feeling that our government doesn’t really appreciate us or care very much about what happens to us. This week the government turned to Australia to supply school lunches, flown across the Tasman, as if local Kiwi businesses can’t be trusted to cook for our kids. The Gene Technology Bill will complete the process for adults and children alike. As we have been reporting, it will hand over our menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner to mega corporations supplying the ingredients from the sludge of their heavily contaminated bioreactors.

On the other hand, in a strange and reassuring way I am feeling encouraged by all of the madness we see around us. There was a time when we considered ourselves dancing outside the fire circle trying to attract attention, but now we see that holding onto the truth brings us ever closer to the power centre of the cosmos. In contrast, it is the government that has lost its way, holding on to disproven ideologies, grasping at straws, promoting policies that don’t make any sense or address ordinary everyday needs. The true nature of administrative power is truth, intelligence and joy—these are qualities we can all aspire to.

Isn’t it about time the public are considered old enough to know the truth about COVID-19’s origins and all that that entails? Whatever our government imagines or secretly plots for us, the truth will come out as it did yesterday in Germany. You can see it is happening already, as the truth begins to dawn, a period of uncertainty ensues, then reality sets in. The whole society is changing now. Don’t be put off by the confusion, people are waking up. Hold on, a lot has to be renewed. Don’t lose heart, write to your MP, tell your local supermarket about the need for full disclosure labelling. No government has the right to take away our food choices. To manage these uncertain times we must hold a steady and truthful course, there is a growing body of science on our side and a lot of time-honoured wisdom to remind us that in the final analysis truth alone triumphs.

The following is the text of our oral submission to the New Zealand Health Select Committee on the Gene Technology Bill made on Monday. We were allowed 10 minutes. The NZ First MP asked a sympathetic question at the conclusion, enabling me to finish with some unscripted points about the threat to small farmers.

This article is also available as an audio version.

“Good Morning and thank you committee members. Since the formulation of the Bill some key scientific papers have been published which upend its fundamental assumptions. I’d like to briefly summarise these in three points before taking questions.

1. SAFETY The Bill contains an assumption of safety which is not justified by research results. It fails to take account of the possible causes of the rapidly growing incidence of serious illnesses which are overwhelming health systems around the world including ours.

A study published in the journal Food Chemistry: Molecular Sciences in 2025 is entitled “Metagenomics-based tracing of genetically modified microorganism contaminations in commercial fermentation products. It found that residual genetically modified microorganism (GMM) contamination is present in virtually all food processing products produced via batch fermentation—the biotech industry standard, which then end up in most of our processed supermarket foods. It found the alarming presence of cell division promoters, antibiotic genes and antibiotic resistant genes in all enzymatic products it tested. Inevitable GMM contamination is currently classified as ‘residue’ which does not need any identification on labels because it is not an ‘ingredient’. A double speak continued by the Bill which side steps this recently discovered potentially serious health issue and fails to safeguard or inform the public

Faced with such alarming findings, why would we want to pass a Gene Technology Bill, which allows even more tinkering with traditional foods without any red lines or discussion of labelling, traceability, specific safety testing procedures, or liability for inevitable mistakes?

2. ACCURACY The Bill is predicated on an assumption of CRISPR accuracy which is outdated and contrary to recent research results and fundamental science

Most of us imagine that genes are as solid as the world around us, made up of distinct objects which can be swapped if one becomes defective. Rather like changing a tyre when you have a puncture. This fails to distinguish between genetic structure and function. The very very small time and distance scales of DNA are completely foreign to our waking world of experience. We have just 20,000 genes controlling trillions of functions. A study entitled “Gene editing of NCF1 loci is associated with homologous recombination and chromosomal rearrangements” has revealed that at this scale many genes appear almost indistinguishable from one another or homologous. As a result, research shows CRISPR gene scissors begin to cut up, rearrange or delete genetic chromosomal structures which were not the intended target, causing potential health problems. This is not because CRISPR has been incorrectly programmed, but rather the inevitable result of a fundamental property of micro matter.

3. EFFICACY The Bill and its surrounding PR contains an assumption of efficacy which is not justified by research results

According to the journal Nature, CAR T cell therapy costs about NZ$820,000 per shot. 85% of patients go into initial remission but only just over half of them are still in remission at the end of the first year. A TEAM of attending well qualified and highly paid doctors is needed to work out how far to push treatment without triggering potentially fatal cytokine release syndrome. Putting the cost beyond the reach of our public health service.

New Zealand has the second fastest growth rate of bowel cancer in the world, just behind Iceland.

As that is the case, shouldn’t our government be prioritising an education programme on lifestyle, exercise, healthy diets, fresh foods, etc.? The costs are very low and the research effect sizes of such programs are very large, around 27% risk reduction for colorectal cancer. It doesn’t stop with cancer, benefits affect the entire health spectrum including 30% risk reduction for heart disease for example. Also reduced incidence of inflammatory and autoimmune conditions

In another gene therapy case reported by Nature, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has revealed the full results of a clinical trial of beta thalassemia and sickle cell anaemia patients treated with a CRISPR-Cas9-based therapy which the popular press has wrongly hailed as a successful gene therapy ‘cure’. In all, 22 patients have received the treatment so far at a cost of NZ$5 million per patient all of whom initially experienced increased levels of haemoglobin and reduced pain. But after one year, only five of the patients had any residual beneficial effects. Vertex paid an additional NZ$85 million in patent fees for the licence to use CRISPR gene editing techniques.

In summary: health improvements are patchy at best, the costs are astronomical and unaffordable, the side effects are very serious and any benefits mostly don’t last very long.

Our overall conclusion: Gene technology remains an experimental intervention that is known to have a high risk profile for human health and food. The genes in our first cell contain the seed of everything that we value in life—intelligence, happiness, health. No one has any idea how genes support human consciousness, the defining characteristic of life. Modify genes at your peril. Gene modification cannot be contained, recalled or remediated. The biotechnology industry needs more strict regulation, not less as the Bill proposes. Thank you.”

Our Reflection after the hearing: The Limits to Power and the Law of the Land

It was a curious process, where the committee members sat passively. They were not required to answer questions or explain their reasons for overriding the public interest and precautionary science. It is extraordinary that the government believes it can adulterate our food choices without any requirement to inform the public what is being done and to what.

There is a relationship that we all naturally enjoy with nature, this is not something that should be usurped by ignorant power seekers. Food is a gift of God to man, or if you prefer it, a gift of the laws of nature—the sun, the soil, the rains and all that this entails. Our relationship with the land is a sacred trust of care and mutual enrichment. There are countless trillions of embodied creatures or organisms with whom we share the land, the early morning light, life giving showers, and the spring winds.

As Robert Frost famously wrote in his poem the The Gift Outright:

“Something we were withholding made us weak
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.”

The government is about to make an extraordinary misstep, casting aside natural justice and assuming control of our relationship with Nature. They are making an enemy of nature, seeking to alter that which keeps us alive and well. If this goes ahead, time will tell us soon enough we have taken a wrong turn from which there is no safe road to return home. The pandemic should have taught us: there is a collective responsibility to oppose the deregulation of biotechnology, otherwise we will collectively suffer the consequences.

This article has two parts: the problem and our response.

Authoritative mathematical biologist Alex Washburne has published an article on Substack entitled “The Strength of Evidence for a Lab Origin—Probable cause, preponderance of evidence, and beyond reasonable doubt“. This is essential reading for anyone still unsure about how COVID-19 originated. Washburne demolishes the so-called evidence for a zoonotic origin with mathematical precision and then builds the case step by step against the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Eco-Health Alliance, including publishing the emails which document their efforts to cover their tracks.

This article is also available as a PDF to download, print, and share

He manages to do so with a dash of ironic humour saying for example: “It just so happens that there is a bat sarbecovirus lab in the same city where this bat sarbecovirus emerged; the specificity of the connection between the virus that emerged and the lab is so high it’s like finding a tiger roaming around the town in walking distance from a big cat sanctuary in Germany, so knowing there is a sanctuary drawing in big cats from around the world provides critical context for the big cat roaming the streets nearby.”

The research being carried out at Wuhan funded by the US NIH was unethical, illegal, and obviously dangerous. Particularly striking was the determination to push way beyond the boundaries of any regulation or common sense in order to create deadly pathogens capable of undermining the genetic foundations of life—science fiction become reality. In this light, any suggestion that the biotech industry can regulate itself or control rogue operators is absurd. Yet this will be the likely outcome of the New Zealand Gene Technology Bill currently being rushed through the Parliamentary Select Committee process.

The Health Select Committee received over 15,000 submissions, but starting this week, wrapping up in just half a dozen days, the Committee will compile its assessment in order to fulfil the government’s timeline for the Bill to become law and operational by September. To speed up the process, the Committee has divided itself into two, meaning that no single Committee member will have heard all the 400 short oral submissions and none would have had any time to take account of the views of the 15,000 submitters.

The Bill will radically alter our food system, agriculture, economy and medicine, injecting genetic modification into every area of daily life, yet the word‘ label’ appears zero times in the Bill. In other words, we will be prevented by the deficiencies of law from knowing what is happening. The obvious context is our overwhelmed and failing health system alongside five years of a pandemic, which, according to the latest data, resulted from unfettered biotechnology experimentation.

We don’t have to look very far beyond our nose to get a sense of unlabelled biotechnology. A New York Times article from this morning is entitled “She’s a Foot Soldier in America’s Losing War With Chronic Disease“. It details the devastating health effects and decreased life expectancy caused by the US processed food industry which is dominated by genetically modified processes and products. Apparently our government is hoping that the Gene Technology Bill will smooth the way for a trade deal with America. If you want to know what that means, read about the effect of the UK-US trade deal in an article in the UK Daily Telegraph “The Americanisation of our diets is destroying our health – and it’s not just about size“.

So how did it come about that our government feels empowered to degrade our food system without adequate consultation or any provision for labelling to support consumer choice? The answer possibly lies in one word—technology. Technology is billed as an escape from the drudgery of tasks, but is it dumbing us all down, draining the joy out of life, limiting our options and exposing us to unannounced health risks?

The technological revolution has heralded a massive decline in literacy, numeracy, and craft skills. Rather than an escape from drudgery, many are too busy to enjoy quality family time, too poor to afford housing and too distracted to appreciate the direction we are heading in. In this situation it is no wonder that the political establishment are taking over the decisions we used to take for ourselves. On the agenda now is what we have for breakfast, dinner and supper.

But it doesn’t stop there, the bio-technocrats are not just suggesting but are busy creating medical interventions which will affect everyone of us whether we like it or not. This has been going on for some time under the radar. A 2020 article in New Scientist was entitled “We now have the technology to develop vaccines that spread themselves“. It advocated radical experimentation under the banner “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. As it has turned out, despite the focus of the entire biotech industry for five years, they still haven’t discovered any prevention or cure for the COVID-19 pathogen they created. But that hasn’t stopped the continuing development of self-spreading vaccines, aerial spray vaccine delivery systems and food plants that vaccinate consumers.

But it doesn’t stop there, A UK Ministry of Defence paper developed jointly with Germany is entitled “Human Augmentation—The Dawn of a New Paradigm. A Strategic Implications Project“. The paper foresees “an impending biotech revolution that will radically transform every aspect of our lives”. It says “We must begin to understand the implications of these changes and shape them to our advantage now, before they are thrust upon us.” In other words, we are faced with a tsunami of biotechnology including bioweapons, and the military advises we should get involved in developing even more powerful ones ourselves. As if sitting on the beach facing an approaching tsunami, the best strategy is to create an even bigger wave ourselves, rather than simply running to higher ground.

What are we facing?

Here in New Zealand, the government is poised to appoint a regulator within the next six months who will oversee the introduction of biotechnology into every area of our lives:

• The Gene Technology Bill contains no red lines. It doesn’t prohibit gain of function research or germline genetic engineering. It doesn’t say anything about transhumanism, bioweapons or airborne vaccination, but it does REQUIRE the regulator to approve biotechnologies used overseas, (yes it is mandated, New Zealand will have no choice). 
• It contains a presumption of safety for which there is no evidence, or rather for which there is abundant evidence to the contrary showing great danger. 
• It strikes no note of economic caution, despite multiple countries among our trading partners restricting GMOs. Moreover it opens New Zealand up to massive predatory profit taking by overseas corporations who hold the patents on crops and gene editing techniques.
• It contains nothing whatsoever to suggest that consumers have a right to know what they are eating. 
• It glosses over the appalling track record of adverse events associated with gene editing of animals and humans. 
• It completely ignores the well documented and researched inherently mutagenic outcomes of CRISPR gene editing, instead opting to describe the results as equivalent to natural products in no need of regulation. 
• It fails to address the genetically modified microorganism (GMM) contamination of batch fermentation production routinely used by the gene industry to produce everything from foods to medicine. 

In short, Parliament has failed to do its homework, yet in the space of a few short hours spread over next week, with little or no opportunity to cross examine or challenge the motives and intentions of Parliament, with little time to cite or explore published research, it is proposed to pass the Gene Technology Bill into the statute books unquestioned by a sleeping media.

The regulator, whoever they are, (probably singularly unqualified to protect the public), will know what to do to please the government, which is to wield a rubber stamp and wave the traffic through. If successful, no doubt Luxon will hold up his copy of this worthless and destructive piece of legislation and declare “Economic Prosperity in Our Time” or hollow and deceptive words to that effect. History, if there still is one left after he has finished, will judge him and his ilk very harshly.

What are the alternatives?

We have already published a cautionary tale of GM food here in New Zealand and listed what to avoid. We have encouraged changes in lifestyle, exercise and pointed to the need to rediscover and honour traditional spiritual practices. The challenges that we face result from the distorted and incomplete understanding of biotechnology. To combat this we need to understand more fully what is at stake and find the fulcrum points where we can leverage a deeper understanding.

There are now 3,400 writers on the Substack platform who are expressing concerns about COVID-19 and genetic vaccines. GLOBE and the Hatchard Report are among the very few calling for an outright ban on biotechnology experimentation. We are doing so for one very simple and entirely cogent reason: no one in the field of biotechnology understands how genetics supports the expression of consciousness. In other words, the vast and growing biotech industry is prepared to put our capacity for awareness and self-reflection, the defining characteristic of life, at risk for the sake of a failed paradigm.

GLOBE and the Hatchard Report are going a step further than calling for a ban by offering an alternative paradigm. Recently in September 2024, eminent historian William Dalrymple published a book “The Golden Road—How Ancient India Transformed the World”. His fascinating study documents how our number system, architectural ideas, our scientific perspective and our early medical knowledge originated in the Indian subcontinent and slowly made its way to the West via the Greeks, the Egyptians and the Arab world. With the peaceful Christian takeover of Toledo in 1085, the vast libraries of works translated from the original Sanskrit and studied by the Arabs, Egyptians and Greeks became available to the monastic centres of Christian learning. One outcome was the blossoming of the western scientific method over a period of a thousand years.

Our objective rational scientific method has now brushed up against the field of consciousness in physics, biology and medicine. In doing so, it has begun to lose its way, distorting and mutating something we have yet to understand. Something absolutely essential to knowledge is missing—the knower, individual consciousness, our identity.

To make sense of the quantum reality they were discovering at the start of the 20th century, leading physicists referred to the Vedic Literature:

• Niels Bohr found connections between the Vedic concept of interconnectedness and the quantum idea of entanglement. 
• Werner Heisenberg was fascinated by the Upanishadic concept of the observer influencing reality, which aligns with the observer effect in quantum mechanics. 
• Erwin Schrödinger considered the Upanishads to be the most accurate perception of reality and heavily incorporated their ideas into his theories. 
• Robert Oppenheimer was deeply impacted by the Bhagavad Gita, particularly its themes of responsibility and the consequences of action, especially in relation to his work on the atomic bomb. 
• Einstein expressed a fascination for Upanishadic philosophy and was familiar with the Bhagavad Gita—a pocket book of Vedic wisdom.

The influence of the Veda and Vedic literature, which Dalrymple documents, took root not just across the sub continent but soon extended from ancient Persia to Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Caucasus mountains in the West and to the East as far as Thailand, Cambodia, Bali and Japan. Although widely revered, the Veda is not a religion, rather a vast body of scientific knowledge that has at its heart the understanding and investigation of consciousness, but this deeper aspect of Indian culture had limited impact on the West.

The quote that “war begins in the mind of man” used in the United Nations charter is originally attributed to Atharva Veda, a branch of the Vedic Literature. The Vedic endeavour to comprehend and develop the full scope of the human mind is also a quest to avert human conflict before it arises. We discuss the science behind this in our book Your DNA Diet, available from Amazon as a Kindle.

Now might be a time to dig deeper into the roots of ancient traditions around the world for the vital clues that could avert the looming disaster of biotechnology. There are some scientists who are already taking up this challenge with some success. A study published in Brain, Behavior and Immunity in 2023 entitled “Transcendental Meditation practitioners show reduced expression of the Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity” has investigated altered expression of 200 genes associated with a healthy response to stress, adversity and disease. This included down-regulated pro-inflammatory transcription and up-regulated Interferon Response Factors.

Many diseases can be aggravated by inflammation, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Interferon is a protein that helps the body’s immune system fight infection and disease. It’s produced by white blood cells and other cells in the body. Interferons activate immune cells, such as natural killer cells and macrophages. They can limit viral replication in infected cells and viral spreading in non-infected cells. They can help the immune system recognise and attack viruses, bacteria, or cancer, preventing growth and division.

A follow up study published in Biomolecules in 2025 found results consistent with reductions in biomarkers of chronic stress and biological age in long-term meditation practitioners. They are also consistent with results from a previous study suggesting that meditation practice lowers energy consumption or leads to more efficient energy metabolism.

Meditation is not a belief system or a religion, techniques have been known and honoured in every country. They have formed a key part of cultural history around the world. The fact that TM beneficially alters gene expression points to the existence of a non-invasive technology of consciousness accessible for anyone. At this point in time, meditation is an opportunity to move away from the depressing cycle of diet-induced chronic disease and drug-initiated adverse effects which are overwhelming our health system, affecting people of all ages including the young and working adults. Hundreds of scientific studies support meditation’s profound benefits for health and longevity.

These are not experimental results without a basis in scientific theory. A book by Tony Nader MD PhD, compiled with the guidance of renowned exponent of ancient Vedic wisdom Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, is entitled “Human Physiology, Expression of Veda and the Vedic Literature. Modern Science and Ancient Vedic Science Discover the Fabrics of Immortality in the Human Physiology” now published by Motilal Barnarsidass.

It locates a sequential self-unfoldment in the sounds and the gaps between sounds which automatically leads to the diversified structure of the branches of the Vedic Literature. Nader and his scientific collaborators working with Maharishi were able to draw an exact parallel between this structure and the sequential unfoldment of human physiology starting with the first cell. Their 600 page book details the mathematical correspondence between the sequences of sounds and gaps in the forty branches of Vedic Literature and the structure and functions of human physiology. It dazzles and astounds with its breadth of scholarship and deep insight. It can fill huge gaps in our current understanding of genetics.

Our connection with the Cosmos has been there all along since ancient times, remembered by our great cultural, philosophical and religious traditions, but like the foundation of a building it has remained largely out of sight in daily life or even forgotten. Now the connection is in need of repair, it is the time for revival of knowledge, an expansion of our understanding and the unfolding of our latent potential. In this we can glimpse a whole new horizon of knowledge which is capable of enriching every aspect of life.

The government is a reflection of the collective consciousness of the nation, bemoaning the shortcomings of the government is just whistling in the wind unless and until our education system is able to develop the full potential of the individual, mind and body, consciousness and physiology.

After the bombshell information in our last two releases (see here and here) everyone has to consider their position very carefully. We reported the results of a recent study which has revealed that most of the processed foods in our New Zealand supermarkets (and in fact around the world) now inevitably contain residues of Genetically Modified Microorganisms (GMMs) and processing agents, including antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

This article is also available as a PDF to download, print, and share 

As a result of agreements between regulators and industry, these are not identified in any way on food labels nor have their likely effects on health been officially tested or assessed. This release discusses how we should respond to this.

The situation we find ourselves in is completely unacceptable

It may not have escaped your notice that the public are being treated like animals who are subjected to feed containing low level antibiotic doses and who are incapable of knowing what is going on or choosing to opt out. Without this realisation, last week we supposed that our opposition to the pending Gene Technology Bill would be enough to protect us from unlabelled Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in our foods. Now we learn that progressive substitution of food processing enzymes, flavours, colours and ingredients produced by genetic modification has been going on behind our back for a number of years rubber stamped by Medsafe. 

If passed, the Gene Technology Bill will accelerate this process. In fact, the Bill appears to be an attempt to legitimise what is already taking place. Our food content is being determined by overseas companies and regulators who have worked together to prevent any identification of genetically modified content or contamination on labels. Clauses in the Gene Technology Bill before parliament make it mandatory to continue in this fashion, essentially giving up control to giant overseas food, pharmaceutical and biotech corporations.

Even if we succeed in stopping the Bill or some provisions are deleted, we will be left subject to the existing wholesale adulteration of the food processing chain. Therefore we need to demand that regulations be stiffened to ensure that ingredients, additives, enzymes, flavours and processing aids produced using GMMs are clearly identified on labels so that the public can avoid them if they wish and we certainly should be demanding this. As Kiwis we should not be treated like animals who have no say in what they are given to eat.

Following the publication of the study in the journal Food Chemistry: Molecular Sciences entitled “Metagenomics-based tracing of genetically modified microorganism contaminations in commercial fermentation products, it is no longer tenable in any way for the government to cling to ‘no label required’ classifications such as Generally Recognised As Safe (GRAS) or ‘Substantially Equivalent to natural products’ as the Bill proposes for most GMOs including those produced using CRISPR gene editing.

Batch fermentation inevitably leads to genetic adulteration

Genetic contamination is not easily controlled at any point in the batch fermentation processes which have come to dominate the food processing sector. The dynamic bacterial-based genetic processes involved are partially controlled through the use of genetically modified microorganisms designed to promote cell proliferation, antibiotics to control pathogens and molecules engineered to be resistant to the antibiotics. Residues are now known to be inevitable and the end products cannot be purified to any satisfactory level.

Food regulators particularly in North America and Europe are unwilling to act responsibly. For example Upside foods in the US received preliminary approval from the FDA in 2022 to grow chicken meat “directly from animal cells, without the need to raise and slaughter animals,” claiming its products “are real meat, made without the animal.” The FDA’s scientific memo accompanying its recent approval, contained a three-page list of “potential identity, quality, and safety issues” involved with Upside Foods’ manufacturing processes, including:

• Cells from different lines or species inadvertently used.
• Carryover of adventitious agents such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, and prions during the process of isolating the product.
• Introduction of contaminants in laboratory reagents.
• Introduction of contaminants from animal-derived reagents (e.g. bovine serum, trypsin).
• Unintended effects of cell immortalisation.
• Contamination, and facility environment contamination, with adventitious agents through inadequate sterilisation of bioreactors.
• Presence of elemental contaminants (toxic heavy metals) after harvest.
• Presence of residual unintended material from genetic engineering.

However, despite these potential risks, the memo stated that “at this time we have not identified any information indicating that the production process … would be expected to result in food that bears or contains any substance or microorganism that would adulterate the food.” The FDA didn’t identify these contaminants because they didn’t test for them; they acknowledged the problems but ignored them because of the cozy relationship they enjoy with big industry. It has become ‘standard’ regulatory practice to assert that batch fermentation is safe, despite it seems knowing full well that it isn’t.

A return to food honesty is required

Historically, breakdowns in honest practice and public trust happen in the food supply chain, they have done so for hundreds of years. By the Victorian era, the adulteration of bread was common. Cheaper and inferior ingredients didn’t just whiten the bread but added weight and bulk. The additives that bakers used to fluff, whiten, and prolong their bread included plaster of Paris, bean flour, chalk, ground-up bone, and alum. Alum led to malnutrition and a myriad of health issues — like bowel problems, constipation, and chronic diarrhea — which were often fatal for children. By the 1870s the government started policing the food industry which led to the modern practices which required standards, testing, ingredient labelling and traceability. 

Our present day food industry has reached a point where corrective action is necessary to ameliorate the adverse effects of processed foods on health which has led to a rapidly growing epidemic of chronic disease including cancer, bowel disease, inflammatory disease, cardiac illness, ADHD, obesity and diabetes to name but a few. Various studies have calculated that around 50-60% of Americans suffer from chronic diseases. Around 40% have two or more. The genetically altered content in processed foods has been widely identified as a prime causal candidate that needs to be controlled. The solutions are similar to those used in 1870, the enforcement of standards, testing, ingredient labelling, traceability and a return to natural ingredients. 

What can we do to avoid GMMs?

You will appreciate that we have been placed in a David and Goliath situation. On the one hand the world’s giant food corporations, on the other the individual consumer. Yet we are not powerless, our food purchasing choices ultimately affect the shelf stocking practices of retailers. Our article Major Health Alert: the Extraordinary Genetically Modified Invasion of Our Supermarkets by Stealth lists a great many affected foods that you may want to avoid buying but what are we going to buy instead? 

If you want to avoid eating GMMs, antibiotic residues and genetically engineered ingredients and additives you could investigate the following suggestions, you will no doubt know of many more:

Favour

Cold pressed oils

Artisan sourdough breads

non-homogenised milk

Butter that has been traditionally churned 

Freshly prepared/cooked fruit and vegetables

Organic flours

Home made jams

Homemade fresh cheese (just add lemon or yoghurt to boiled whole milk).

Dried fruit—dates, raisins, etc., free of sulphites, oils.

Nuts

Plain Yoghurt, (add the fresh fruit yourself)

Unprocessed organic ingredients rather than so-called organic processed alternatives like cornflakes

Grains—rice, wheat, millet, quinoa, barley

Lentils, chickpeas, beans, (soak ahead for quicker cooking)

Pasta

Rather than instant noodles get asian ramen, somen or soba noodles, they cook quickly

Organic meats and flours

Pure spices not ready mixes and stocks

Plain crisps and crackers rather than flavoured

Choose breast feeding if possible rather than infant formula

Fresh squeezed juice rather than store bought

Home made smoothies using a bullet

Use cookbooks like Jaimie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals or YouTube hints. 

Air fryers are quick and can cook healthy choices

If you are pressed for time to shop selectively, there are some great fresh food ingredient delivery companies that offer menu choices and cooking instructions.

Avoid

Most supermarket breads and flours (they contain synthetic folic acid, and many other processing aids like synthetic yeasts, flour improvers, vegetable fats, preservatives, etc.)

Vegetarian and vegan meat substitutes

Zero sugar drinks

Foods with high sugar content

Cheese made with GM rennet, often labelled as ‘vegetarian rennet’ rather than traditional animal rennet

Processed convenience foods, including ready meals like frozen pizzas, lasagna, pies, chips, etc

Coloured and flavoured foods including confectionary, chocolate

Yoghurts with multiple ingredients 

Fast food

Ice cream

Sauces with multiple ingredients like most ketchup and mayonnaise 

Food with thickeners

Energy drinks

Nothing beats reading the labels 

But remember headline phrases like ‘natural’ ‘derived from plants’, ‘low fat’, ‘low sugar’, ‘plant-based’, ‘healthy’, ‘no additives’ and ‘extracted’ increasingly have little meaning. They have become misleading marketing tools. The ingredient list is the thing to read. Be inquisitive about how your food choices have actually been prepared and what they contain. 

We realise that our suggestions are not a solution as such, but they can be a step in the right direction. Many people are so busy they have hardly any choice except to rely on pre-prepared food options.  Even so, everyone has a right to know what goes into food, that is absolutely basic and historically has always been the direction of food regulation. The government is proposing to extend an already deteriorating food safety situation by permanently exempting numerous genetically modified ingredients and contaminants from identification. They are essentially delivering our food system into the hands of giant international food corporations who couldn’t care a fig about consumers and are anxious to avoid full disclosure labelling laws.

We have to demand the government extend labelling laws to identify the involvement of GMMs in processing.

Many of you have written and asked about the current prevalence of genetically modified foods and the potential health risks. An up to date answer to this question comes as a huge surprise even to the team at the Hatchard Report. Today’s article lists the affected products, and discusses the history and industry pressure which created a regulatory framework lax enough to allow the genetic engineering of the preparation and content of most supermarket foods.

Food processing aids, enzymes, additives, flavours and colours were originally derived from natural plant and animal sources, With the rise of mass production in the food industry these were required in greater quantities to ensure that industrial-scale fast continuous processes turned out products of uniform appearance, taste and consistency. As a result, food industry chemists invented batch fermentation techniques whereby naturally occurring bacterial strains such as lactic acid bacteria (LAB) facilitated the necessary cell replication and proliferation at a mass scale.

More recently batch fermentation has become dominated by genetically modified microorganisms (GMMs). 

These GMMs are designed to tailor and accelerate the fermentation processes. A 2023 paper entitled “Bioengineered Enzymes and Precision Fermentation in the Food Industry” reports:

“Enzymes have been used in the food processing industry for many years. However, the use of native [naturally occurring] enzymes is not conducive to high activity, efficiency, range of substrates, and adaptability to harsh food processing conditions. The advent of enzyme engineering approaches such as rational design, directed evolution, and semi-rational design provided much-needed impetus for tailor-made enzymes with improved or novel catalytic properties. Production of designer enzymes became further refined with the emergence of synthetic biology and gene editing techniques and a plethora of other tools such as artificial intelligence, and computational and bioinformatics analyses which have paved the way for what is referred to as precision fermentation for the production of these designer enzymes more efficiently.”

Ostensibly, these genetically modified processes are supposed to be more efficient and produce purer products however these routinely differ in critical ways from their natural counterparts. As a result, the food industry pushed very hard for the GMM processes to be unregulated and unidentified on food content labels. For example a 2022 article entitled “Recombinant DNA in fermentation products is of no regulatory relevance” deceptively suggested that fermentation products produced via GMM techniques are “more sustainable”. It stated: “There is no meaningful rationale for using recombinant DNA for regulatory classification of fermentation products.” It argued that too much regulation would de-incentivize innovation in industrial biotechnology, and introduced instead a concept called “proportionate regulation”, which amounts to little if any regulation. In the end, their view has prevailed around the world. The role of GMMs in food production has escaped identification on labels. 

The scope of the revolution in GM food production beggars belief. 

The list of everyday products now produced with the aid of genetically modified microorganisms is seemingly endless and includes the following.

• Amylases: which catalyse the hydrolysis of starch into sugars, aimed at improving the quality and shelf life of bread and other baked goods
• Proteases: which hydrolyze proteins, used in meat tenderisers, infant formula, and to improve the flavour of milk and cheese
• Pectinases: which hydrolyze pectin, used in juice clarification and fruit pulp treatment
• Transglutaminases: Cross-link proteins, which are used in meat and fish
• Galactosidase: Reduces viscosity in grain legumes and lupins, which are used in animal feed
• Glucanase: Reduces viscosity in oats and barley, which are used in animal feed
• Invertase: Hydrolyzes sucrose to produce invert sugar syrup which is used in baked goods, candies (including chocolates, truffles, toffees, marshmallows, taffies, and caramels), sweetened beverages (including soft drinks, iced tea, etc.), frozen treats (including ice cream and sorbets), beer and commercial kombucha
• Lactase: Hydrolyzes lactose and whey to develop products free from lactose for lactose-intolerant people. It is also used to produce frozen yoghurt 
• Lactic Acid: used in the production of cultured butter
• Lipase: Supports lipid digestion in young animals, and is used in cheese flavouring and dough conditioning
• Citric Acid: used in stock cubes, commercial citric juices, jams, preserves, canned tomatoes, wine, ice cream, sorbets
• Xanthan Gum: a stabiliser and thickener which is used in fruit juices, salad dressings, sauces, gravies, gluten-free products, low-fat foods and vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free processed products
• Amino Acids: The human body needs 20 amino acids to function properly. Synthetically produced copies are added as flavour enhancers
• Monosodium Glutamate MSG: A flavour enhancer commonly used in Chinese and Asian foods. Also used in instant noodles, potato chips, hot dogs, lunch meats, pepperoni, bacon, pastrami, sausages, salami, chicken, beef, salmon, mackerel, scallops, crab, shrimp, canned tuna, frozen pizzas, crackers, deli meats, etc.
• Aspartame: Artificial sweetener used in diet drinks and other products labelled as sugar free
• Vegetarian Rennet: produced by Pfizer and others, used to make 75% of cheese world wide
• Vitamins: like riboflavin (B2) added to flour, and a great many other vitamins which are used in a very wide range of foods including milk alternatives like almond milk, etc.
• Beta-Carotene: just one of the many engineered colours now used in a huge range of foods including margarine, cheese, fruit juices, baked goods, and dairy products. Also used to enhance the colour of processed meats like bacon, spam, corned beef, and sausages, vegetarian meat substitutes, pet food, and tomato ketchup.
• Vanillin: a synthetic vanilla flavour used in ice cream, baked goods, chocolate, aromatherapy, coffee, alcoholic beverages, perfumes often falsely identified as ‘natural’ on the labels.

I’m going to stop there and take a deep breath. The full list would run to thousands of products. Virtually all of the above are produced overseas and imported into NZ where they are widely used in food production. What can you say? All of them are processed foods, but many of them are found in the cupboards of even the most ardent natural food advocates. Is this a done deal with no turning back? Even the organic industry has accepted that additives produced using GMMs can be used in organic products as long as no GMMs are present, but the industry doesn’t have the resources to test compliance. 

Universal genetic contamination ignored by lax regulatory authorities

A paper published in 2021 entitled “GEMs: genetically engineered microorganisms and the regulatory oversight of their uses in modern food production” lays out the regulatory framework (or lack of it) very clearly. Foods produced via processes using genetically engineered microorganisms do not need to be labelled as GMO. They fall under Generally Recognised As Safe (GRAS) categories. It has been presumed by regulators that the genetically modified microorganisms used during batch fermentation will not be present in the final products. However, the latest research shows this to be a false assumption.

Recent research has found that residual GMM contamination is present in virtually all products produced via batch fermentation using genetically modified microorganisms. A study published in 2025 in the journal Food Chemistry: Molecular Sciences is entitled “Metagenomics-based tracing of genetically modified microorganism contaminations in commercial fermentation products. It reports on a well-hidden and seldom mentioned dirty secret—namely genetic contamination, saying: 

“Genetically modified microorganisms (GMM) are frequently employed for the production of microbial fermentation products such as food enzymes. Although presence of the GMM or its recombinant DNA in the final product is not authorised, contaminations occur frequently.”  

It found GMM contamination in all 16 biosynthesised food enzymes it examined including the very concerning presence of antibiotic resistant genes, thus highlighting possible public health risks of biosynthesis. The GMMs used in batch fermentation are catalytic bacterial engines specifically designed to accelerate and maximise cell proliferation. Their presence equates to a possible theoretical risk of malignant cellular growth and interference with beneficial microbial processes in the gut. We have used the term ‘theoretical’ only because no one has been required to research their real life health outcomes.

A paper entitled rDNA Traces in Fermentation Products Using Genetically Modified Microorganisms (GMMs) spells out the EU policy on such contamination. Apparently to side step the issue, GMM contamination is classified as a ‘residue’ which does not need identification on labels because it is not an ‘ingredient’. An argument which qualifies for the double speak of the year award. It is presumed to be covered by other food legislation designed to protect purity. In fact there is virtually no regulatory effort to test for GMM contamination. In practice, foods produced using GMMs are presumed safe and remain untested. Regulators have given up and bowed to industry pressure. All of these players are fully aware that if GMM processes were identified on labels many consumers would be rightly very cautious and exercise their preference for traditional ingredient sources. The biosynthetic industry wishes to avoid this at all costs as it pushes ahead with more and more genetically modified food substitution.

Our entire food chain has been polluted with GMMs

As a result, genetically engineered bacteria have been rapidly and secretly introduced into the increasingly globalised food chain on a false presumption of safety unsupported by any testing of health outcomes. GMMs are not genetically similar to naturally occurring foods nor can they be presumed safe, they contain artificial sequences of genetic instructions potentially capable of interfering with immune processes key to the maintenance of good health and they are now present in foods across the entire spectrum of supermarket processed and packaged goods. It is well known that even very minor changes in genetic structures down to the level of single codons can critically affect health, but industry, government and regulators are determined to turn a blind eye to the potentially serious risks to health.

We already know that processed foods are at the heart of a burgeoning public health crisis, causing rising rates of cancers, heart disease, inflammation and auto-immune conditions which have suddenly accelerated in recent years. Conversely, as I explain in my book Your DNA Diet, fresh foods from natural sources promote better health outcomes. The biosynthetic revolution is replacing these natural sources using genetically engineered processes. Since 1990, the use of biosynthesis has gradually accelerated in foods, medicines, and the environment. Over the last five years it has become ubiquitous and all but unavoidable for working people. 

To avoid GMMs make an effort to find fresh food sources, go to your local organic supplier or farmers market. Cook at home using traditional methods, do your research, and cooperate with neighbours. Local networks are becoming increasingly important.

The summary point to make here is the novel genetic nature of the contamination. These are not minute traces of potentially toxic chemicals such as pesticides, they are active sequences of genetic instructions capable of interfering with the fundamental basis of our health. In other words, they are prime suspects in the search for the causes of the current tsunami of ill health. Incredibly, our NZ government, rather than tightening up on consumer safeguards and labelling, proposes to completely ignore the warning signs and go full monty on biotech deregulation.

LAST CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR SAY

We are at a crossroads where decisions made will affect us all for generations. Find out more by viewing our YouTube video The Gene Technology Bill. What Kiwis Need To Know and then make a submission to the Health Select Committee this weekend by Monday February 17th. There are many reasons to reject the Gene Technology Bill. We have published suggestions for a submission template, but you can make your own submission of any length. Even just saying that full disclosure labelling of gene edited origins including food ingredients produced via genetically modified microorganisms needs to be mandated will make a significant point. The more submissions that are received, the more it can become clear to the government that we care about our natural foods.

Be warned, MPs are telling their constituents that clear labelling of GMO content will continue as before. This is not the case, the word ‘label’ appears zero times in the Bill, yet it replaces earlier legislation. The Bill will exempt most CRISPR products and all GMMs from any regulation or control. We should not accept politicians misleading us whether intentionally or not.

We do not live in a country where people are willing to let others take away their food choices, their rights, their beliefs and increase exposure to serious long term environmental and health risks. To protect this, we need to stand up and be heard. Keep using your voice at this critical time.