Culture, Risk, and the Prospect of Genetically Modified Organisms as Viewed by Tāngata Whenua
Terre Satterfield, Mere Roberts, Mark Henare, Melissa Finucane, Richard Benton, and Manuka Henare
Culture, Risk and the Prospect of Genetically Modified Organisms as Viewed by Tāngata Whenua
By Terre Satterfield, Mere Roberts, Mark Henare, Melissa Finucane, Richard Benton, and Manuka Henare
Whakatane: Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi May 2005
The research reported in this report has been supported under Contract UOA X0234 from the Foundation for Research Science and Technology, Wellington, New Zealand through the University of Auckland and Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. The authors would like to thank all those who made this project possible. Their willingness to embark upon this journey with us into the largely unknown was greatly appreciated. Nō reira, mā te Atua koutou e manaaki, e tiaki i ngā wā katoa.
Their views presented here provide an in-depth insight into the values and beliefs of a wide range of tangata whenua concerning genetically modified organisms. We hope their gift will make a valuable contribution to this subject area, and provide sustenance for those who seek to travel further on this journey.
We wish to thank the James Henare Research Centre at the University of Auckland who provided a home for the first stages of this project and, along with our Māori Advisory Committee members (Dr. Merimeri Penfold, Father Henare Tait, Pereme Porter and Rua Rakena), provided much appreciated manaakitanga for this project.
Project Director: Dr Mere Roberts, Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi Associate Researchers: Dr Terre Satterfield, The University of British Columbia Dr Melissa Finucane, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Honolulu, Hawai’i Dr Manuka Henare, The University of Auckland Advisor: Professor Richard Benton, The University of Waikato Graduate Assistant: Mark Henare, Cambridge University
CONTENTS
1. Introduction...... 6 Aims of This Project ...... 6 Background to GMO Technology ...... 7 Legislative and Regulatory Provision Relevant to GMO Research in New Zealand ...... 10 The HSNO Act...... 11 The ERMA Decision-Making Process...... 11 Underlying Principles for ERMA Decisions ...... 12 Māori Concerns Relating to Applications Considered by the Authority...... 13 Towards a More Inclusive Framework for Risk Assessment ...... 14 2. Methodology...... 16 Interviews and Focus Groups ...... 16 Analysis ...... 18 Streamlining Codes...... 18 Presentation of Results...... 20 3. Primary Philosophical Concepts ...... 21 Spiritual Matrix A: Tapu, Noa, Mana ...... 21 Mana as Referenced in Discussion About GM...... 21 Tapu ...... 22 Tapu References in Context of GMO Debates ...... 23 Noa...... 24 Spiritual Matrix B: Mauri and Wairua...... 26 Mauri...... 26 Mauri in the Context of GM Discussions ...... 27 Mauri as Distinct from Its Physical Form...... 27 Mauri as Transferable ...... 28 Mauri as Nontransferable...... 30 Wairua...... 32 Wairua in the Context of GM Debates ...... 32 4. Key Values Highlighted by Discussants...... 35 He Tangata, He Tangata ...... 35 Aroha/Manaaki ki te Tangata...... 35 Whānaungatanga: Pēhea Nga Mokopuna? ...... 36 He Tangata and Whakapapa ...... 37 5. Norms ...... 39 I Ngā Wā o Mua ...... 39
Culture, Risk & the Prospect of Genetically Modified Organisms 3 Kia Tūpato and Kimihia te Mātauranga...... 41 The Slippery Slope Dilemma...... 41 Kimihia te matāuranga...... 42 Risk Taking Kōrero...... 43 Creative Responsibilities ...... 46 Learning from the Past...... 46 6. Institutions...... 48 Whakapapa...... 48 Definitional Attributes of Whakapapa as Articulated by Participants...... 49 Whakapapa as Genetic and Ancestral Identity ...... 49 Whakapapa and Biology...... 52 Tuakana and Teina...... 53 Does GM Impact Whakapapa? ...... 55 Whakapapa as Unaffected by GM ...... 55 Whakapapa as Affected by GM...... 57 Ambivalence Regarding Effects of GM on Whakapapa...... 58 Kaitiakitanga...... 60 Rāhui...... 61 Familiarity and Usage...... 63 Taonga...... 64 What Makes Something a Taonga? ...... 64 How Should Taonga Be Considered?...... 66 Tikanga ...... 68 Virtue, Ethics, and Values ...... 68 Tikanga, Ritenga, and Kawa...... 71 Considerations for the Development of a Tikanga for GM ...... 72 Karakia ...... 73 Karakia and the Management of Transfer ...... 76 Ensuring Compatibility...... 76 Consultation With Spirit Realm (on the Subject of GM) ...... 77 To Free Transferred Material From Encumbrances...... 77 To Ensure the Survival of the New Organism via Assignation of Mauri...... 77 To Ensure the Properties of an Organism Will Do the Work Intended...... 78 Maintaining Cultural Integrity ...... 78 7. Principles Relevant to Māori Decision-Making Processes ...... 80 Tino Rangatiratanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi...... 80 Te Tiriti o Waitangi ...... 82 Individual and Collective Choice...... 83 The Will of the Majority or Guided Democracy?...... 85 Dialogue 1...... 86 Dialogue 2...... 86
Culture, Risk & the Prospect of Genetically Modified Organisms 4 Conditions for Productive Consultation ...... 86 Kaupapa — From Intent to Ethics to Rules for Operation ...... 89 8. The Response Continuum...... 93 Human Genes ...... 94 Food...... 100 Food and Field Trials...... 101 Natural v Unnatural ...... 102 Situational Acceptability of GMOs ...... 104 Support for Medical Benefits and GMOs ...... 105 Qualified Conditional Support for Conservation Benefits...... 106 Situational Acceptability of Laboratory Containment...... 106 9. Concluding Discussion ...... 108 Bibliography...... 112 Appendices...... 116 Appendix A. Summary Of Iwi Responses to Applications to the ERMA. Recommendations by Ngā Kaihautu Tikanga Taiao (NKTT) the Māori advisory committee to the ERMA are also provided for each application...... 116 Appendix B. Issues Raised by Māori During the Royal Commission on GM ...... 121 Appendix C: Phase II of this Project...... 122 Moving from Phase 1 to Phase 2 ...... 122 Objectives of Phase 2...... 123 Principles of Survey Design...... 123 Index...... 125
Culture, Risk & the Prospect of Genetically Modified Organisms 5 1. Introduction
“Risk analysis is both a scientific and a political exercise. Ultimately the whole exercise is driven by values, which determine choices made even within science, and the choices made by decision-makers and by society at large.”1
Few issues better characterize the social, scientific, and political dimensions of the late 20th and nascent 21st centuries than do debates about genetic engineering. Faced with growing public anxiety about such research, particularly that concerning genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and their possible release into the environment, the New Zealand Government has sought to address these concerns in two important ways. First was the commencement of a Royal Commission of enquiry into Genetic Modification. The Commission presented its findings in July 2001.2 The Government has also funded several research projects through the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, which investigates this technology, including the social, cultural, and economic milieu in which this research is being conducted in New Zealand.
Aims of This Project
In 2000 the Foundation for Research Science and Technology (hereafter FRST) identified the need for more research that would determine the potential key effects (beneficial and adverse) of different kinds of GMOs on the public, and in particular on Māori. It was decided that such research should also seek to identify those values and beliefs that influence the acceptability or rejection of this technology, and develop ways to incorporate those beliefs and values into a robust decision-making framework.
Commencing in March 2001, a team comprising Mere Roberts, Manuka Henare and Richard Benton from the University of Auckland, Mark Henare, now a graduate student at Cambridge University, and Terre Satterfield and Melissa Finucane from Decision Research in Eugene, Oregon U.S.A. embarked upon this research. Overall, the project seeks to answer the following questions across 3 phases of work. Firstly,