28 May 2007

Sad day for New Zealand

The Environmental Risk Management Authority's (ERMA) decision to allow field testing of genetically engineered brassica crops risks sending good money after bad, with no chance that the New Zealand public will ever agree to eat this plant or have it grown commercially here.

"This decision will allow for pest resistant forage kale, cabbages, cauliflower, and broccoli containing a caterpillar killing pesticide to be taken out of the laboratory into a field.

"Brassica is a particularly problematic crop. Brassica pollen travels large distances, the seeds are small and brassicas cross easily, with hundreds of variants in existence.

"Rather than reducing the need for pesticides, the use of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in genetically engineered crops is likely to produce long-term resistance in insects, which means more toxic sprays will be needed to control pests," Ms Fitzsimons says.

"We must be cautious about promises of containment and monitoring, and that the trial will not be allowed to flower.

"The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry raised some very serious concerns following the last round of brassica field trials. They highlighted failures to meet several conditions surrounding monitoring, non-cultivation of trial sites and buffer zones. Other evidence shows that canola plants were allowed to flower to enable seed production, and at the end of the field tests, the plant material was disposed of by ploughing into the ground. These seeds can lay dormant in soil for up to 15 years.

"ERMA received 959 submissions on this application - of which 941 were opposed to the trials. What part of "No" don't they understand?

"Risks include the transfer of the changed genes to wild plants. For example, plants engineered to be resistant to pesticides may transfer their resistance to weeds. It has already been proven that this can happen, and that new resistant weeds can survive in the wild. And almost all GE plants use antibiotic resistant genes - another area of grave concern in agriculture and wider society.

"The announcement of 10 years worth of funding for a trial with no safety testing when even the project leader has admitted there can be no guarantees of containing the trial to the site is tantamount to a publicly funded hand out for scientific folly.

"The way forward for New Zealand is organics and integrated pest management, building on our clean, green image."

ENDS

© Scoop Media