Government’s Move Keeps New GMOs Under Regulation
1st November
The government’s decision to keep all new techniques for engineering genes under regulation is welcomed by the
Sustainability Council.
Last year, the Council won a High Court ruling that the EPA could not itself expand the list of breeding techniques that
are excluded from being GM under law. The EPA had determined that two new techniques should not be regulated as GM but
the High Court quashed that, agreeing that only Parliament or the Cabinet could make such a decision.
After reviewing that ruling, the government has decided not to deregulate a raft of emerging new GM techniques. These
will continue to be covered by GM law, with any use being subject to EPA approval and public consultation.
Instead, the government is proposing simply to clarify that all traditional chemical and radiation mutagenesis
techniques are not GM. These were understood to be excluded when New Zealand’s GM laws were first introduced, but the
High Court appeal identified a drafting error. The proposed clarification will ensure that New Zealand law is aligned
with that of our key trading partners.
The government’s decision not to deregulate new GM techniques is good news for New Zealand food producers. As the
government notes, regulating the new techniques as GM is vital for the protection of food exporters.
There is zero tolerance for unapproved GM content in many of New Zealand’s major export markets. That makes it essential
to have prior EPA assessment of not just the science but also the economic impacts of any use of GMOs.
Regulating the new techniques as GM is also consistent with leading international opinion on biosafety. The techniques
are almost all still in the experimental stage and the Austrian government believes they need to be evaluated for the
same risks as current GM techniques.
ENDS