'Corngate' sequel holds few fears

By KEVIN TAYLOR

The "Corngate" spark will reignite this week when a parliamentary committee's report on the affair is released, but the Government is understood to be unfazed.

The local government and environment select committee's report is expected to be tabled in Parliament tomorrow.

More than 100 pages long, it is likely to reflect a split on the panel, with Government members differing with the Greens and other MPs.

But the Herald understands the Government is not too concerned about the report's findings.

The report will make a number of recommendations, and is likely to discuss the issue of official tolerance levels to GM contamination of imported sweetcorn.

The committee decided to launch an inquiry in October 2002 after the publication during the election campaign of Nicky Hager's book Seeds of Distrust.

The Wellington author alleged the Government broke the law and covered up the discovery in November 2000 of a shipment of possibly GM-contaminated imported sweetcorn seeds that were planted in Hawkes Bay, Gisborne and Blenheim.

The Government has always denied any wrongdoing.

The story came to life again last year when a memo to the Prime Minister from a former employee of her department, Ruth Wilkie, surfaced.

It was revealed that the memo was one of a number of documents the then department head, Dr Mark Prebble, withheld despite Helen Clark's ordering full disclosure when Hager's book was released.

National MP Nick Smith claimed the memo showed the Prime Minister was "donkey-deep" in managing the issue in late 2000.

But Helen Clark, who is on a visit to India this week, has always denied detailed involvement, saying she was only "chair of the board".

The inquiry terms of reference included examining if the Government had accepted a contamination tolerance level in dealing with the issue in 2000, the extent to which biosecurity measures control the risk of GM contamination of imported sweetcorn, and compliance by the authorities with the law.

Also under review was whether the public, Cabinet and the Royal Commission on GM were adequately informed about the possible contamination issue at the appropriate time.

Hager said yesterday that he was confident Opposition MPs on the panel would confirm all the main points of his book - that the Government had an unexpected crisis in the middle of the Royal Commission and tried to keep the issue quiet.

He said lobbying from big business resulted in officials applying an illegal allowable level of contamination as a way of concluding that there was no problem with the crops.

"As a result of applying that tolerance level, it wasn't necessary to get to the bottom of the question of whether or not there was contamination so they didn't bother completing the testing."

He said he was not concerned about how long the inquiry had taken. Hager said officials had handled more recent GM contamination scares in a more open way - a gradual vindication of his book.

Committee chairwoman Jeanette Fitzsimons, co-leader of the Greens, would not comment ahead of the report's release.

In November 2002 she said that she was concerned key questions raised by Corngate were swept under the carpet by the timing of the election.

Terms of reference:

* Whether the Government accepted a contamination tolerance level in 2000 when dealing with the possible GM sweetcorn contamination.

* The extent to which biosecurity measures, past and present, control the risk of GM contamination of imported sweetcorn.

* The scientific evidence of the likelihood of contamination of the suspect seeds and the adequacy of testing.

* Compliance with the law.

* Whether the public, the Cabinet and the Royal Commission on GM were adequately informed about the issue at the appropriate time.