Delight and anger at GE report

By SCOTT MacLEOD

Reaction to the long-awaited report into genetic engineering was swift and predictable.

The same groups that argued so vociferously for and against genetic engineering in submissions to the royal commission of inquiry again split down the same lines.

As questions are raised about the value of genetic science, particularly in growing genetically engineered crops, the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification recommends a GE future for New Zealand - cautiously.

Scientists, business, researchers and some in Government and the Opposition thought its proposals to allow field trials of genetically engineered products was fair. Many will say it was the only sensible approach as gene science has developed at such a rapid pace that Governments and consumers have found it almost impossible to keep up.

But Greenpeace and the Green Party had visions of a GE-free future for New Zealand, where organic farming became as important as conventional farming and New Zealand claimed a special place in the world as the first developed country to reject genetic engineering.

Here is what different groups said of the report.

LABOUR

Prime Minister Helen Clark, who released the report, said it was the widest-ranging inquiry into GE, and the result was balanced and thorough. The Government would look carefully at the recommendations before acting.

Cultural, ethical environmental and international aspects would have to be taken into account.

"The Government is committed to a more dynamic economy driven by education, innovation, research and technology.

"But we will not allow the health and safety of New Zealanders to be compromised in pursuit of that."

The Government would respond by October 31.

The Minister for the Environment, Marian Hobbs, thought the report was a "comprehensive overview" of the GE situation that would be a valuable tool in public debate.

ALLIANCE

Leader Jim Anderton said the commission found a middle ground between the uncertainty of GE and the need to move forward.

"No one wants three-headed cows, and nor do many New Zealanders want to live without the benefits of genuine scientific progress."

The Alliance would make decisions in the next month on the report and work on its policy.

NATIONAL

It used the report to attack the Greens, saying all its major demands had been rejected.

Environment spokesman Nick Smith praised the report for having the intelligence to spurn the Greens' call for a GE-free NZ.

"Having spent $6 million on the commission and over 16 months on its investigation, the Greens must accept that they have had their day in court and lost," he said.

GREENS

As expected, Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons damned the report, saying it would speed up the release of GE crops.

She worried that the recommendations would force us into a future with GE, with no option to back out.

"Despite all their nice words about keeping New Zealand's options open, the commission has recommended a faster path to the release of GE crops than we had before - destroying our current market advantage."

The Greens believed that a proposal for the "contained release" of GE products would ease the fears of many people while actually doing little to protect the environment.

The problem was that there was an assumption that GE crops would stay where they were put. But that was nonsense.

Ms Fitzsimons said the commission had assumed GE crops would boost the nation's exports, but there was no evidence to back that.

OPPONENTS

Massey University lecturer and philosopher Scott Eastham was devastated by the report.

"It seems pretty hopeless for those people who want a different relationship to the natural world. I can't see much hope for organic farmers."

Dr Peter Wills, an associate physics professor at Auckland University, who represented groups including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the Green Party before the inquiry, said the commission would not alter the power structures involved in GE.

The report was fairly superficial. "It leaves all the important powers structures in place. It leaves the power with the universities, the Government and industries and all of these people who have some objections to GE will feel very disenchanted because they're not really been taken any notice of."

Organic farmers, who hoped New Zealand could trade on its clean, green image, coupled with GE-free products, were predictably angry.

New Zealand's Organic Products Exporters Group predicted domestic and export sales of organic produce would rise from $65 million last year to around $100 million this year.

Grower Marty Robinson, of Kerikeri, said a recommendation to use GE "buffer zones" was unlikely to work.

He used the example of the varroa mite, which attacks bee brood.

The mite had escaped from areas where it was meant to have been contained and attacked other parts of the country. If it could happen to the varroa mite, it could happen with genetically engineered crops.

GE pollins would be even harder to contain, he said.

"It takes 20 years to introduce medicines but they can get these crops into our food chain within two."

MAORI

Angeline Greensill of Tainui, a member of the group that forced a High Court hearing over work by AgResearch scientists to breed cows with a synthetic human gene, thinks commission efforts to address Maori concerns are a cop-out.

"I think now we have to make this a political issue, an issue for the next election."

Ms Greensill, a lecturer in geography at Waikato University, said Maori would continue to have concerns about GE even if the Government, like the commission, adopted a cautious approach.

MEDICAL EXPERTS

While most of yesterday's debate centred on the commission's decision to allow field trials, one spin-off will be increased medical research and work on biotechnology.

New Zealanders are already using some 20 medicines containing protein products produced in the laboratory, including interferon for multiple sclerosis and growth hormone to stop growth retardation.

The Researched Medicines Industry said public acceptance of biotechnology was perhaps the most critical issue in making medicines.

Chairman Richard Nottage said: "Of all the issues confronting the pharmaceutical industry in New Zealand, perhaps the most critical is public acceptance of the use of rapidly advancing biotechnologies in the production of medicines."

Graeme Sinclair, the host of TV3's Gone Fishing programme and who has multiple sclerosis, welcomed the decision to allow trials, which he hoped could one day bring medicine breakthroughs.

An experiment is under way at Ruakura involving the implantation of a human gene into cattle foetuses.

The resulting calves will contain, it is hoped, a protein useful in stopping multiple sclerosis.

SCIENTISTS

The Association of Crown Research Institutes said the report was good for scientists.

Chairman Ian Warrington said it carried a strong message that there was a place for scientists in New Zealand.

The key was to keep strict control over laboratory research and field trials.

BUSINESS

Business New Zealand chief executive Simon Carlaw said the commission appeared to have taken a cautious approach that offered the prospect of a sensible way forward.

The business community knew the future depended on how well science was used to "leverage up from commodities towards highly differentiated products".

"The commission has balanced the need for progress with the need for robust safety controls."

www.nzherald.co.nz/ge

Full report of the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification

GE lessons from Britain

GE links

GE glossary