Rethink on GE cleanup

HortResearch's plan to sterilise the site of genetically modified tamarillo trials at Kerikeri is on hold.

The cleansing has been put off while the Government decides whether to pay for analysis to show whether DNA from the tamarillos has been transferred to soil organisms.

Last week, HortResearch said it would fumigate the site with the teargas chemical chloropicrin to ease community concerns about GE.

But Port Waikato Opposition MP Paul Hutchison asked Environment Minister Marian Hobbs to pay for the analysis, claiming that to sterilise the site without evidence would be "environmentalism gone mad".

"To poison soil with a potent chemical to get rid of something that may not even be there is nuts," he said.

"Evidence [for the fumigation] should be based on science, not voodooism."

Mr Hutchison said HortResearch had told him that it did not have the money to pay for the analysis.

HortResearch science manager Dr John Shaw said it would make sense to do the analysis.

- NZPA

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