By DITA DE BONI and NZPA
A company accused by activists of breeding mutant fish is abandoning its genetic engineering programme, just days after it was ordered to take steps to stop eggs escaping.
Nelson-based company NZ King Salmon will make the announcement today, after the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) moved this week to impose tougher controls on the company's research farm.
The genetic programme is currently run at the company's Kaituna hatchery, near Blenheim. King Salmon's regular salmon farming activities, as well as a "natural selection" programme to breed superior fish, will continue.
As part of Erma's crack-down early this week, King Salmon was directed to dispose of the Chinook salmon growth hormone it had been trialling at a local landfill under special conditions, reduce the holes in nets encasing the trial fish, and not offer any material from the trials for human or animal consumption.
Associate Environment Minister and Alliance MP Phillida Bunkle said the Erma report had shown salmon might have escaped.
"Far from scaremongering, it shows we were raising legitimate concerns all along. The risk has now been shown to exist and is confirmation of what we were saying."
The Herald understands the company - a wholly owned subsidiary of Karamea Holdings and ultimately owned by the Malaysian-based Tiong Group - had originally moved into genetic engineering to rectify a salmon-growing problem at the farms.
A public relations company last year advised King Salmon never to mention "issues such as deformities, lumps on the head, etc" for fear it would cause panic.
Anti-GE protesters picketed the company's hatchery, demanding an end to what they called "frankenfish" experiments.
"The demonstration of these risks has happened just in time to stop the devastation of our fish stocks," said Phillida Bunkle. "It shows the absolute necessity of a moratorium for field trials of GE crops, animals and fish."
Contacted yesterday, King Salmon chief executive officer Paul Steere said he could not comment before today's statement was made, but described as "absolutely erroneous" rumours that the company would pull out of New Zealand altogether.
He denied also that a renewed focus on curbing genetic engineering by the Government and official bodies was forcing the company to close the programme.
Thomas Tiong, speaking on behalf of the Tiong Group, said last night that commercial operations would "not be affected" by today's announcement.
King Salmon produce the bulk of New Zealand's 6500 tonnes of salmon farmed every year.
Environment Minister Marian Hobbs could not give a definite assurance yesterday that genetically modified salmon eggs had not escaped into the wild, but said there was no "evidence" they had done so.
Ms Hobbs was asked in Parliament by Green co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons whether she could give an assurance that the eggs had not escaped through King Salmon's 4mm wire mesh screens.
"I have raised this issue with the Environmental Risk Management Authority who is the responsible body. I have the assurance that there is no evidence that genetic material, including eggs, has escaped from the experimental facility," Ms Hobbs said.
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