[Home] [Databases] [WorldLII] [Search] [Feedback] New Zealand Law Commission

[Database Search] [Name Search] [Download] [Help]

9. The back stop

140 AS WE HAVE SET OUT IN THIS PAPER, there are two situations where none of the possible liability regime alterations would be effective and those injured by GMOs would be left without a remedy and uncompensated loss would be suffered:

• catastrophic damage of a type or magnitude that the responsible party, its insurance company or even a compensation fund are unable to cover; and

• irreversible damage (such as loss of biodiversity).

141 In the first category, loss will either lie where it falls, or the community, as taxpayers, will have to come to the rescue by providing compensation to all those injured. It is arguable that by allowing the development of GMOs in New Zealand, the government, on behalf of the entire society, must take explicit responsibility for loss suffered that is left uncompensated by the liability regime established.[141] No regime can, however, compensate for irreversible damage such as loss of biodiversity or spiritual pollution.