Modified tamarillos attract anti-GE protesters

By ANGELA GREGORY

KERIKERI - A crop of genetically engineered tamarillos has sparked a protest today outside the Kerikeri HortResearch station.

Wild Greens spokesman Richard McIntosh said the crop was being grown in a field trial at the station.

"We question the need for such research, and demand immediate public scrutiny of the site."

Mr McIntosh said he had heard that site security was lax, so the engineered crop could cross-pollinate with commercial tamarillos.

A public meeting in Kerikeri this year had been told no such trial existed, he said.

HortResearch chief executive Ian Warrington said the trial met all regulatory requirements.

"The staff concerned are very, very diligent people," he said. "I could not believe they could be lax."

Bob Bilton, the marketing adviser for the Tamarillo Growers' Association, said the research had been going on for 10 years.

About 90 per cent of the tamarillo crop was affected by mosaic virus, which was "ruining the industry."

The virus creates hard yellow patches in the fruit and affects export volumes.

Mr Bilton said the research could result in trees immune to the virus.

"Technically it's genetic engineering but nothing like what others are doing."

HortResearch spokeswoman Liz Brook confirmed that trials of genetically engineered tamarillos were being done at Kerikeri.

"It's not a secret and has been going on since January last year.

"We are only talking about a few trees, and the fruit isn't even allowed to hit the ground."

Ms Brook said the growers' association might have told Mr McIntosh that no trials were being done because it had thought the experiments were still at the laboratory stage.

The research aimed to find the tamarillo gene that blocked the mosaic virus. "No outside genes are involved."

Ms Brook said HortResearch had the permission of local iwi.