Officials reject apiarists' calls for veto on flowering GE crops

8.00am

Government officials have not supported calls by apiarists for the national watchdog on genetically engineered organisms to block the growing of flowering GE crops out of containment.

The Government was told in a cabinet paper released today from agriculture and environment officials that beekeepers would prefer either to have no GE flowering plants grown in the open, or that no GE plants were approved which could be important sources of honey or pollen.

But the officials have recommended two other way of mitigating the effect of GE crops on honey, pollen and other bee products, a sector worth $24 million a year in honey production, and $21 million a year in exports which include honey.

They said Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) could set conditions on the management of GE crops to minimise effects on bee products, such as by clustering GE crops or requiring farmers to take the flowers off some crops.

And beekeepers could be left to manage their hives to avoid the risk of GE content, such as by using a computerised register of approved GE crops to track locations and flowering times.

"Erma will be able to provide information about the location of any GE crops of concern to beekeepers," the cabinet paper said.

"Beekeepers consider that their profit margins would be reduced if GE plants were released in New Zealand, as the separation distances they require would be too great to be practical," the report said.

Filtering pollen from honey and using modifying plants so the altered genes were not expressed in pollen, or putting bee repellents on GE crops, would be insufficient, according to the beekeepers.

Bees can fly up to 13km in foraging -- too far for practical buffer zones around GE crops, the beekeepers said.

The report noted Canadian apiarists asked for GE-free honey supplied clover honey, because clover had not been modified. But another paper released today noted New Zealand plant breeders are expected to apply after October for permission to trial GE clover.

- NZPA