Scientist adds voice to GE protests

By ANNE BESTON

A pioneering scientist whose work helped pave the way for genetic modification research in this country will speak at an anti-GM rally today.

As protesters gather at rallies and marches around the country in a last-ditch attempt to convince the Government it should keep restrictions on GM in place, Dr Elvira Dommisse is adding her voice to calls for the moratorium to be extended for five years.

"Absolutely it should be, at least five years," the 40-year-old Christchurch mother-of-two said.

"I had my doubts about GE then and I have my doubts now, there have been a lot of promises made but they have not eventuated."

Dr Dommisse worked at state-owned research institute Crop and Food and its predecessor the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research between 1985 and 1993 when she quit over the direction the new science was taking.

She gained her PhD researching genetically modified onions, the crop at the centre of a field trial application now before New Zealand's gene science watchdog, the Environmental Risk Management Authority.

Dr Dommisse's published PhD paper detailed her work genetically modifying onions with a soil bacterium.

The work helped pave the way for the application before Erma from Crop and Food scientists to grow onions resistant to the herbicide Roundup.

Although the onion trial is not dependent on the moratorium being lifted because it will be done in containment, Dr Dommisse said cross-contamination of pollen could not be prevented with outdoor planting of GM crops.

"It's just the nature of pollen, they talk about buffer zones but I mean please, you can't contain it at all and we are counting down to the day or year when pollen from GE crops gets out there."

She believes scientists within New Zealand research institutes and universities are unhappy with the emphasis that has been put on GM work at the expense of other areas of research.

"I personally know scientists who are totally opposed to the lifting of the moratorium and others who are unhappy about GE but see it as inevitable," Dr Dommisse said.

Anti-GM protesters will march in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Timaru today.

"We're looking for a historic turnout to convince this Government it has to listen to the people," said Greenpeace spokesman Steve Abel. "A majority of New Zealanders do not want this technology."

Dr Dommisse now teaches music and is a flautist with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.

She said she was not sure if she would return to a science career.

The New Organisms and Other Matters Bill is expected to be passed before the moratorium expires on October 29.