Erma approves GE onion-seed trial

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The Government has given Crop and Food Research's controversial field trial of genetically engineered (GE) onion plants at Lincoln a clean bill of health.

Approval from the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) follows concerns raised by GE Free New Zealand that unapproved genetically transformed onion seedlings from the United States may be growing at the site, having sneaked through in a batch of imported seeds.

Crop and Food's biological safety committee approved the importation of seeds from the US that the Crown research institute says came from New Zealand bulbs in the first place.

The 10-year field trial is of onions modified to be resistant to the weedkiller Round-Up.

Erma's general manager for new organisms, Dr Libby Harrison, said yesterday a thorough inspection had been carried out in the past two days to make sure Crop and Food was operating within biosecurity guidelines.

All regulatory approvals had been "double and triple-checked" and found to be in order.

"Crop and Food are doing everything they have said they will do," Harrison said.

"We take this stuff very seriously. We are very, very careful about these things, particularly of field tests."

The biological safety committee had not overstepped the mark in approving the importation of seeds, she said.

However, there had been a couple of issues highlighted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in its six-monthly audits of the field trial. In its March audit, the ministry found a minor administrative error that required a revision of the containment manual for the trial.

Six months earlier, it had issued a notice to Crop and Food requiring it to deal with concerns about staff training and record-keeping within 30 days, Harrison said.

Erma had also found a "very minor" administrative error in the original application in November 2004 to import the onion seed, when Crop and Food's biological safety committee used the wrong form.

New Zealand had some of the strictest regulations for GE organisms in the world, she said.

The field trial, which is now starting its fourth season, has had variable success.

In an annual report to Erma in June last year, Crop and Food scientist Dr Colin Eady said there had been poor germination of some seed, a bad reaction among some GE plants to Round-Up, a major infestation of small sucking insects called thrips, and false alarms with site security.

Despite that, onions were a "relatively safe initial starting crop for testing GM (genetically modified) systems in New Zealand and for developing methodologies that will reassure industry, regulatory bodies and other interested groups that the testing is efficient and effective", Eady said.

All Erma controls had been complied with but controls, their regulation and interpretation were "an evolving process".

Eady said yesterday that despite seasonal variations, the results of the trial were "promising".

"We believe the data provides important support towards the demonstration of the viability of glyphosate (Round-Up's active chemical) tolerant onions to enhance sustainability of onion production."

- © Fairfax NZ News