Chemical clean-up for GE trial site

By ANNE BESTON environment reporter

Land used to grow a genetically engineered crop will be decontaminated for the first time in New Zealand despite warnings it could harm the public's perception of GE.

Leading crown research institute HortResearch has agreed to use chloropicrin, a chemical commonly used in teargas and as a soil steriliser in the horticultural industry, to sterilise the 2000 sq m plot where GE tamarillos were grown at its research facility in Kerikeri.

The agreement comes as the Government is considering what rules should govern genetic science in New Zealand, including whether to adopt some of the 49 recommendations made by the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification.

A decision is due this month.

The agreement is being touted as a significant victory by anti-GE groups, who have pushed for two years to get the field trial site fumigated.

Zelka Grammer, chairwoman of GE Free Northland, said she was pleased attempts were to be made to mitigate the risks of the tamarillo trials.

"We are very concerned about the high risks of GE field trials and are worried that transgenic pollution could be irreversible."

But the head of the Environmental Risk Management Authority, Dr Bas Walker, said the sterilisation could be misinterpreted and had been agreed to only to "appease/reassure" Northland's anti-GE groups.

Erma is the independent authority set up by the Government to approve genetic modification experiments in New Zealand.

His comments were made in an e-mail to the chairman of the pro-GE umbrella group Life Sciences Network, Dr William Rolleston. The e-mail was then sent to a wide group of recipients, including the Herald.

Dr Walker would not elaborate and said he was cross that the e-mail had been made public.

HortResearch's head of science, Dr John Shaw, would not comment on what advice the institute received on sterilising the tamarillo trial site.

He said agreement with anti-GE groups on carrying out the decontamination was still being settled, but the Herald understands an announcement will be made today.

The chloropicrin will be used under plastic so no fumes can escape.

That should prevent a repeat of an incident in Hawkes Bay this month when 25 people were taken to hospital after fumes escaped from a field at a nearby orchard.

Residents reported stinging eyes, sore throats and vomiting from the chemical, which had failed to disperse in fog and still air.

An agricultural chemical expert said at the time that he knew of only four reported incidents where chloropicrin had caused problems in more than 40 years of use.

Dr Shaw said HortResearch had agreed to carry out the sterilisation because of community concern but said public perception and scientific reality were two different things.

"I would be confident there is nothing there of any significance that would be a risk or threat to the environment."

The plot is mown regularly and anti-GE groups have not been allowed access.

The tamarillo trial began in January 1998 and ended this February when the plot was dug up and the plants destroyed. It was designed to test whether tamarillo plants could be immunised against mosaic virus and was a success, Dr Shaw said.

The plants resisted the virus and produced high-quality fruit.

Dr Shaw said "plant material" from the trial was being kept under strictly controlled conditions at a HortResearch containment facility.

Pat Clarke, a horticultural consultant who has been the key negotiator for anti-GE groups with the research institute, said the community was worried that genetically altered DNA was in soil at the site and would transfer to related species planted there.

He said the two parties had "agreed to disagree" about whether there was any environmental threat from the trial site.

The Herald understands that once the chloropicrin sterilisation has been done, GE-Free Northland and GE-Free New Zealand will be allowed to take independent scientists on to the land to test for contamination.

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Report of the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification

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