US firm mystery GM ally

The state-owned Crop & Food research institute has unveiled the mystery collaborator on its genetically modified onions project.

California-based Seminis, which describes itself as the world's largest developer, grower and marketer of fruit and vegetable seeds, signed a deal with Crop & Food's Lincoln researchers yesterday.

In addition to giving the Government scientists an undisclosed sum of money, it has provided access to the herbicide-resistant gene used by Crop & Food.

A row over the identity of the US backer erupted on Monday at the opening of a three-day hearing by the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) on a bid by Crop & Food to field test GM onions.

Crop & Food's market development general manager, Peter Barrowclough, said the research institute had hundreds of commercial relationships and "most have confidentiality clauses".

Following speculation on its identity, Seminis agreed to waive this clause. The firm is doing parallel trials on GM onions in the US.

Erma's three-day hearing continued in Christchurch to consider Crop & Food's proposal to trial GM onions over 10 years at a secret location in Lincoln.

Researcher Dr Colin Eady has asked for consent to plant up to 13 plots, each less than 15sq m.

Crop & Food has done 33 field trials of GM plants; the latest on potatoes was pulled up only this year. But Dr Eady's is the first new application for three years and attracted a record 1900 submissions.

Yesterday, Federated Farmers and the Vegetable and Potato Growers Federation backed the research aimed at cutting the use of herbicides by up to 70 per cent.

California-based genetics professor David Williams told Erma that Dr Eady's onion used outdated technology and urged him to do more work in the lab before field trials.

Speaking by phone from California, Professor Williams said not enough was known about inadvertent genetic changes which could be made when the herbicide-resistant gene was added.

"You don't know what you're doing when you throw this gene into the genome," he said.

Many other submitters raised concerns about the effects of GM crops on soil bacteria.

AgResearch soil microbiologist Dr Maureen O'Callaghan said studies had found only small and/or short-term changes in soil bacteria caused by GM crops.

- NZPA