Organic farmers make stand outside venue

A small band of organic farmers and supporters from the Far North trekked to Auckland yesterday to stage an impromptu three-day vigil outside the Catching the Knowledge Wave conference.

Wayne Parsonson, an organic farmer near Kaitaia, said the group decided on the protest after seeing the report of the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification on Monday. The commission gave a cautious go-ahead to releasing genetically modified crops.

The economic gains available from genetic engineering are expected to be a major theme of the Knowledge Wave conference.

Dr Craig Venter, who heads the American company that mapped the human genetic structure, Celera, is due to address the conference via a video link from the United States this morning.

"We are citizens who feel that now is the time to make a stand," Mr Parsonson said.

"We would all be affected. We feel we have to do something. This is something we can do, which is stand up and be seen."

The group plans to sleep out on the footpath opposite the Sheraton Hotel, where the conference is being held, and to stay until it ends tomorrow.

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