Posted 22nd June 2001

GE Slippery As Soap

New Zealand Greens MP Jeanette Fitzsimons said evidence shows it is highly likely that eggs from genetically engineered salmon escaped into the wild during the NZ King Salmon experiment at Kaituna. "Information released under the Official Information Act states that the average egg size was 4-5mm. "The mesh size meant to keep eggs from being fertilized and escaping into the river was only 4mm. I can't see how anyone can argue that they know or believe eggs didn't escape during the experiment, given that the mesh and many of the eggs were the same size." The document recently obtained by the Green Party is a report of a visit to the NZ King Salmon Hatchery by the Environmental Risk Management Authority chief executive Bas Walker on 9 December 1999, one day prior to the reassessment of the application by ERMA on 10 December 1999. Ms Fitzsimons said the report would shake public confidence in ERMA once again. "When ERMA released their decision to the public, Dr Walker stated that the average egg size was 5-7mm and played down any likelihood of escape.

This is at odds with the report from his hatchery visit which gives the average size as 4-5mm and states 'some eggs could therefore pass through the screens, be fertilized and leave the containment facility'. "ERMA's role should not be to reassure the public by skating over the facts. This is exactly the type of hush-hush attitude which has evolved in British food-safety scares and which has resulted in public mistrust of the very authorities who are taking the decisions and informing the public." Ms Fitzsimons said the first step by ERMA should be to hear all decisions and reassessments in public. "The public deserves to know why ERMA decided to change their estimate of how big the average salmon egg is, and why they ignored the initial recommendation that the mesh should be reduced to 2mm, and recommended instead a reduction to 3mm. "If the King Salmon reassessment had been made in public, the report of this visit would have been part of the public domain. Now we find out that eggs could easily have escaped - yet because of the secrecy, there has been no owning up to this and no commitment to any monitoring of salmon populations in the wild for genetic pollution."

Meanwhile, the New Zealand Government put some lawyer's mesh in place, pesumably because of the likelihood that GE seeds entered NZ in December 2000, and apparently even ERMA said that if the seed was contaminated (they had trouble with the test results), that 150,000 plants could now be growing around the country. A new protocol that reduces the risk of unapproved genetically modified (GM) seeds being imported into New Zealand will take effect from August 1, the Minister for the Environment, Marian Hobbs, announced today. The new protocol will apply to all non-GM sweet corn seeds imported for planting. "There is growing international concern about this issue, as all countries face difficulties detecting unapproved GM seeds," Marian Hobbs said. "The new inspections for imported seeds will provide a high level of assurance that incoming seeds are non-GM. "The law does not permit unauthorised GM seeds to be deliberately imported or planted, and if GM seeds are detected, the consignment will not be allowed to enter New Zealand." The protocol is an interim measure for 12 months and will apply only to sweet corn seeds. Sweet corn seeds are imported only between August and December. The Government will develop a new protocol to apply from next year, which may be extended to cover other seeds. Consignments of sweet corn seeds will be tested at the border for GM presence, unless the producers use an accredited quality assurance system that involves testing for GM presence and additional measures to prevent GM contamination. Reputable seed companies provide a high level of assurance that their seeds are non-GM.

The Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) will accredit assurance systems and set up auditing procedures, including testing consignments at the border. MAF expects to accredit the main companies by the end of 2001, and audit testing will begin after companies have been accredited. Marian Hobbs said the greatest difficulty lay in obtaining reliable test results for very low levels of contamination. The limit of reliable detection occurs at a contamination level of somewhere between 0.1 percent and 0.5 percent (between one and five GM seeds per 1000 non-GM seeds). Below these levels, repeated tests produce ambiguous or conflicting results. "This does not mean that there is an allowance for contamination, but reflects the fact that no test can detect GM material with 100 percent certainty," Marian Hobbs said.

Technology for detecting GM material is still new. As yet, there are no international standards to refer to....