Test for low-spray onions brings 1500 submissions

A bid by scientists at Lincoln, near Christchurch, to test genetically modified onions has attracted a record number of submissions.

About 1500 were made to the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) before this week's deadline.

The previous record was 863, made over an application to develop a GM cow.

Erma spokeswoman Julie Watson said it was too early to know how many of the submissions were for or against the field trial of a herbicide-resistant onion.

However, it had been noted that many came from anti-GM websites, such as Greenpeace, where pre-filled submission forms were available.

"Greenpeace made it really easy ... which is good," she said.

The applicant, Crop & Food Research plant geneticist Colin Eady, said his onion could be a boon to the environment because it would allow growers to use chemicals that were less toxic than those used now.

A gene inserted into the onion makes it resistant to glyphosate, a comparatively benign chemical found in the Roundup herbicide. It is "non-persistent", meaning it breaks down relatively quickly, and is non-toxic to mammals.

The traditional onion is a slow-growing crop, poor at fighting off weeds. Farmers use a battery of up to 15 different herbicides to control the weeds. Many are more toxic and longer-lasting than glyphosate.

Onions are the country's fourth-largest horticultural crop. Dr Eady said if his GM onion was a success, the country could save about $2.25 million a year because growers would need to spray only about five litres of glyphosate a hectare, compared with the 16 litres of chemicals now sprayed a hectare every season.

Dr Eady said he was frustrated by "misinformation" and fears about "Frankenstein foods".

"They are hindering what could be a huge potential benefit to society. Twenty-two million kilograms [a year] of chemical ingredients, herbicides and pesticides would be saved by these crops."



Greenpeace spokesman Steve Abel said it was laughable to claim the herbicide-resistant onion would reduce chemical use. The use of herbicide-resistant soybeans overseas had led to a growth in chemical use.

"You get weed resistance and eventually the herbicide becomes useless so you have to go to the use of more toxic herbicides."

- NZPA