Kiwi actor Sam Neill has released a new wine in his Picnic range, named as a result of a highly public spat between himself and former Queenstown mayor Warren Cooper, over rural subdivision in the Wakatipu district where Neill lives when he's not "on location."

Cooper once called Neill a "chardonnay socialist" who did not want to share his piece of paradise.

Neill, who said he was speaking on behalf of ordinary New Zealanders, urged Cooper to "stay at home and watch telly."

However a case of the new wine, Two Paddocks Picnic Socialist Chardonnay 2004, sent by Neill to Cooper to "make up" and thank him for the inspiration, was gladly received and Cooper said some would be donated to an environmental cause.

Cooper in return sent Neill a 1975 bottle of Cooks Alicante commemorating Think Big icon Rob Muldoon.

This time of the year is normally reserved for optimism, but if you can detect the telltale tick of an ominous countdown, you are not alone. The Government has signalled its clear intention to lift the moratorium on the release of genetically modified organisms in October, come rain or shine.

Many people are alarmed by this. However, the Prime Minister has briskly labelled them "Luddites", somewhat unkindly, so we march forward to a scientific brave new world, like it or not.

The Government has been persuaded to sell us a dog. A rather ugly five-legged dog at that. And on close inspection it looks like the dog might be sporting a toad's rear end.

The problem with buying a crook dog, of course, is that it's very hard to sell on. Consider our major customers for instance. In Britain, all the major supermarket chains refuse to sell genetically modified food, and this stance is spreading to Europe.

In Asia, the Japanese, Koreans and Taiwanese have similarly shown themselves to be reluctant to buy GM food. The United States has been told by Japan that if Monsanto releases its GM wheat seed, all American wheat will be unacceptable. Just as virtually no American corn is now taken by European importers.

They know that you cannot grow GM crops as well as conventional crops without the two mixing. Nature ensures that with pollen, wind and bees genetic material is broadcast. And in Japan, as in Europe, even trace contamination is too much contamination.

There is no doubt that this resistance to GM food is consumer-driven: 71 per cent of European consumers on close questioning say they wouldn't touch it.

Why this overwhelming aversion? Of course in Europe, after mad cow disease and foot and mouth, people are understandably somewhat wary of modern farming practices. That is why they continue to present such a good opportunity for us as GM-free primary producers.

The branding "clean, green and GM-free" is potentially enormously attractive in the Northern Hemisphere. Could it be that the Government is under some pressure from our competitors to accept GM so there is no choice and we lose our advantage?

It's also fair to say that a good proportion of these consumers abroad find the idea of genetic modification downright troubling.

The crossing of species boundaries and the implications this has for evolution and the integrity of species (as well as individual life forms) is a concern that runs deep.

Making a genetically modified organism, you see, isn't like producing, say, a better conventional wheat such as the Hilgendorf; crossing good strains to produce an even better grain. It involves the insertion of genetic material from one organism into another to produce a transgenic organism.

Thus, as in one case, you might introduce fish genes into tomatoes to make them frost-resistant. Or bacterial toxins into crops to give them insecticidal properties.

And the Crop and Food Institute at Lincoln produced the famous example of a potato crossed with toad genes. I was accused by one eminent scientist in July of being a fantasist - but what scientist living in the real world could seriously imagine people actually wanting to eat a toad-potato? You have to laugh sometimes, don't you?

Interestingly, this same scientist has reportedly had a change of heart in respect of GM food.

Now, squeamish though it makes me feel, I find it impossible to argue against the use of GM in medicine under appropriate conditions. If, indeed, scientists can find a cure for a major disease, more power to them.

But the use of GM in the production of food or fibre at this point seems unacceptably risky.

We don't know nearly enough about what the release of GMOs into New Zealand, and the food chain, will mean for the environment and for human health.

But that's the dog the Government wants us to buy. Myself, I'd leave it in the vendor's yard, firmly tied to a tree.

* Actor Sam Neill is a member of the Sustainability Council

16 October 2001

By SUE FEA
The "Sam and Warren Show" may be drawing to a close, with Sam Neill unsure whether he wants his name on the credits and his co-star now strangely silent. But the legendary rural development rivalry between Neill and retiring mayor Warren Cooper looks set to live on.

"I have one last thing to say about Mr Cooper and his retirement," Neill told The Southland Times yesterday. "He won't be painting my bloody house, but good luck to him anyway."

A fiery public spat between the pair broke out last October after Neill broke his usual public silence tocriticise Mr Cooper's pro-development stance in ruralareas.

He was told he had a "damned cheek and should stick to film-making," to which Neill responded from the set of Jurassic Park 3 saying Mr Cooper should "stick to house painting," his former trade.

But Saturday's "very encouraging" election results in which "all things Cooperite" were rejected made it all worthwhile for Neill.

"I personally have found the process quite an interesting one, if not always enjoyable."

He was unsure whether his participation in the rural development row had influenced mayor-elect Clive Geddes' 4000-vote victory and the dumping of several longtime councillors.

Lakes District Community Association spokesman Jeff Williams said Neill's public debate had "set the fire burning" in the community and had an enormous impact on voters' thinking.

The former council had made the fundamental mistake of not recognising the changing demographics of the area, Mr Williams said.

Mr Cooper was not biting yesterday.

He had no reaction to the election result or Neill's comments, "absolutely none ... no, not at all" was all he would say.

And so the curtain fell yesterday, perhaps for the last time, with Sam Neill centre-stage and WarrenCooper left uncharacteristically out of lines.

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THIS PAGE CREATED ON SEPTEMBER 15, 2005 BY MAUREEN