AgResearch wants GE cows

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AgResearch plans to alter the make-up of cows, sheep and goats to produce a medicinal super-milk by mixing human and animal DNA.

The Crown research institute is pushing ahead with the plans, despite being embroiled in a court battle with GE-Free New Zealand over similar proposals that the lobby group says show "callous disregard" for the environment and economy.

The Environmental Risk Management Authority is calling for submissions on the AgResearch application, which involves creating goats, sheep and cows at Ruakara in Hamilton.

A High Court ruling made in June has prevented AgResearch from pursuing four similar applications that also sought to conduct the research with a view to developing health products.

The research agency will fight the case, taken out by GE-Free NZ, at the Court of Appeal in January. GE-Free NZ president Claire Bleakley said it was "unbelievable" to see another application made in the interim that would ruin the country's status as being free of genetic engineering.

However, AgResearch's general manager of applied biotechnologies, Jimmy Suttie, said the new application was more specific than the "generic" versions blocked by the courts.

AgResearch wanted to develop genetically engineered animals, which would be contained outside its premises, to produce milk products with therapeutic qualities. It would use human DNA, made synthetically and available commercially from the United States, to first create test-tube animals in a laboratory.

The researchers hoped that the animals would then be able to produce milk products and therapeutic proteins. "We think cows are a good factory for making bio-pharmaceuticals, and we think there's a potential for industry in the future for New Zealand."

If granted, the application would put New Zealand at the forefront of an industry that Dr Suttie said could attract an international market.

In its application, AgResearch said the cancer drug Herceptin was an example of a therapeutic protein that could be produced more efficiently through research.

Dr Suttie said the research would help find a more effective way of manufacturing other specialist milk products.

"International companies are coming to us because of our expertise in this area. We are not talking about pints of milk."

Dr Suttie said the activities would be highly regulated and refused to comment on opposition to the proposal by GE-Free NZ.

Mrs Bleakley said the group was seeking legal advice to see whether an injunction could be served on the application until after the outcome of the appeal.

Although the animals would be contained, Mrs Bleakley said they would still be a risk to biosecurity, and the research would put the country's image at risk.

THE PLAN

AgResearch will conduct research on goats, sheep and cows living in containment

The aim is to learn more about gene function, milk composition and disease resistance

The research will focus on proteins important in human therapeutics and animal disease

Submissions to Erma close on December 18