GE onion trial approval becomes official

11.00pm

A proposal to field trial genetically engineered (GE) onions in Canterbury was officially approved today by the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma).

The decision, originally made public in a bungled press release on Friday, allows Crop and Food Research to test onions engineered for tolerance to herbicide and evaluate their environmental impact.

The approval was discovered on Friday, when an embargoed press release was apparently posted by mistake on the Erma website.

The research, part-funded by the California-based international seed company Seminis Vegetable Seeds, is aimed at cutting herbicide use by onion growers by 70 per cent.

Researchers will also study the impact of the GE onions on soil and plant bacteria.

The recently lifted GE moratorium did not cover this type of field test application, which was allowed before and during the moratorium, Erma said in a statement today.

Anti-GE campaign group the People's Moratorium Enforcement Agency spokeswoman Lenka Rochford said after the bungled media release any attempts to plant GE onions would be met with "non-violent direct action".

Green Party co-leader Rod Donald said the bungled press release proved Erma was dysfunctional.

"The shambles of breaking their own embargo doesn't leave me with any confidence that they have made the right decision," he said. The Green Party tolerated field trials and did not condone direct action.

Erma's approval comes with controls:

* the trial will be at a specified site near Lincoln, with controlled entry of people and materials to the facility;

* approval is limited to 10 years;

* a limit to the scope of the trial, including the number of onions grown and other crops allowed on the site;

* disposal of onion plant material and destruction of any GE onions not removed to another containment facility;

* removal of all onions before they flower, releasing pollen, with regular checks for early flowering plants; and

* monitoring and inspections during and after the trial.

Erma said there were three main potential risks from the trial: pollen transfer, incomplete characterisation of the GE onions, and the opportunity costs of not funding other research.

"The principal benefit ... is the scientific and other knowledge to be obtained," Erma said.

Other benefits included providing a platform for research into environmental effects, development of GE onions that could be patented, local job creation, and retaining scientific skills in New Zealand.

"Long-term commercial possibilities were not treated as significant because they would be relevant only to an application for release, not to the current field trial."

The application by Dr Colin Eady, who is leading Crop and Food's research on the onions, attracted huge public attention as the first for a GE field trial for three years and one that coincided with the controversial lifting of the moratorium.

It attracted a record 1900 submissions.

- NZPA

Full text

Environmental Risk Management Authority:

Decision on field testing of GE onions

Herald Feature: Genetic Engineering