Greens say Govt backing off GM food release

By KEVIN TAYLOR

The Green Party believes the Government may be backing off on releasing genetically modified organisms for food production after comments by Environment Minister Marian Hobbs in Parliament yesterday.

Asked if there were likely to be applications for release of GM crops or herds for human consumption, Ms Hobbs said: "Not for many years, and if such an application were made its first-time nature might well provoke a call-in response from the minister."

The moratorium on commercial release of GM organisms lifts on October 29 and the Environmental Risk Management Authority will consider and decide on applications.

But the minister has "call-in" powers that mean she can decide on particular applications, after a recommendation from Erma.

Ms Hobbs' comment provoked the Greens to ask Prime Minister Helen Clark whether it could be interpreted as a "Clayton's extension of the moratorium" - which she denied.

But Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said last night that she believed a worried Government was backing down on releasing food GM organisms or contaminating the food chain.

She said Ms Hobbs would use call-in for "politically inconvenient" applications. "It's clear there's going to be major political unrest about every application for release - whether conditional or not - and the Government's not going to succeed in passing this off as a technical and scientific decision by Erma."

Ms Hobbs told Parliament that "at no time" had she stated she would use call-in for politically sensitive decisions. A decision to use the power would be done on a case-by-case basis.

She described the moratorium as a "blunt approach" to GM and continuing it would deny New Zealand access to the technology's benefits.

Last night Ms Hobbs denied the Government was backing off the moratorium.

She believed the importance of the call-in power was its ability to add two specialists to Erma hearings.

"Sometimes if there's an application comes in that might be the first of a kind and of significance, namely directly into the food chain ... the minister might probably do a call-in."