GM corn variety classed as safe

By KEVIN TAYLOR political reporter

The genetically modified material which contaminated sweetcorn grown near Gisborne is one of the GM corn varieties approved for consumption in New Zealand.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said yesterday that testing over the weekend had shown the presence of Bt11, an insect-resistant GM sweetcorn variety.

New Zealand and Australian food standards class this type of corn as safe to eat, even though the GM moratorium means it is illegal to grow it or any other genetically modified crops here.

On Friday, the ministry revealed that a New Zealand company had alerted it to GM-positive tests carried out in Japan by a pizza-maker of a topping mix containing the sweetcorn grown near Gisborne.

The ministry's group director of biosecurity, Barry O'Neil, said yesterday that the concentration of Bt11 was low - less than 0.05 per cent.

MAF is still investigating how the sweetcorn grown by Sunrise Coast NZ was contaminated.

Mr O'Neil said the possibilities were that contamination came from the seed imported from the United States, from cross-contamination from neighbouring fields, during the harvesting and processing stages, and during laboratory testing.

"We cannot rule out any one of those ... pathways at this stage."

He said the field investigation would continue for "some days" and an audit of the company's harvesting and processing systems would start today.

The sweetcorn was planted last September in four fields covering 26 hectares, and was harvested in January.

The Food Safety Authority's director of plant and dairy products, Tim Knox, said the level of GM in the sweetcorn was well below the Australasian standard for unintentional presence of 1 per cent.

He said the company that applied for Bt11 corn to be approved in both Australia and New Zealand had to show it was as safe as any other food on the market.

"It has been through the risk assessment process and been through the range of tests that are required, and was considered to be acceptable."

He said the company had indicated the corn was a trial shipment and no product had been released for consumption in either Japan or New Zealand.

Given that, and the low levels of concentration, said Mr Knox, there was no need for the Food Safety Authority to take further action.

Environmental Risk Management Authority chief executive Bas Walker said the contamination was unintentional and appeared to have caught everyone by surprise.

But the case has handed more ammunition to opponents of the Government's intention to lift the moratorium on the commercial release of GM organisms in October.

However, Environment Minister Marian Hobbs said yesterday that the case had nothing to do with the moratorium and would not give her sleepless nights.

If New Zealand declared itself GM free and still imported seed, she said, the chances of such contamination happening again would always be there.

The GM material was present in such a small concentration it might never have been detected.

But Ms Hobbs said she was still "slightly nervous" the sweetcorn had been contaminated another way and was awaiting the outcome of investigations.

Green Party MP Sue Kedgley said she was alarmed at Ms Hobbs' "defeatist" reaction to the scare.

"While that is clearly the strategy of biotechnology companies, it is not a comment one would expect from a Minister for the Environment."

Ms Kedgley said the case highlighted the urgent need for a more rigorous surveillance and testing regime.

"Far from having the most stringent regulatory regime in the world, as the Government routinely boasts, we have one that is woefully inadequate."

Sustainability Council executive director Simon Terry said that if a pizza maker in Japan was routinely testing for GM content, that was a clear demonstration of the sensitivity of export markets.

"Throughout Europe and the wealthier Asian nations, there is strong consumer resistance to even trace GM contamination."

Questions and answers

* Q. How did the GM get into the corn?

A. Experts are investigating four possibilities - GM in the original seeds imported from the US or contamination from neighbouring crops, during harvesting and processing or during laboratory testing.

* Q. Does it matter anyway if the GM is approved as safe to eat in New Zealand?

A. Not really, says Environment Minister Marian Hobbs. The main concern is finding out how the corn was contaminated.

Yes, says Green MP Sue Kedgley. The case shows New Zealand's testing regime is woefully inadequate.