GE could be organic boon hearing told

The pro-biotechnology lobby argues for less bureaucracy, writes ANNE BESTON

Organic food could one day be genetically engineered, the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification was told this week.

If New Zealand wholeheartedly adopted genetic science it would not mean the end of the organics industry, Dr William Rolleston said on behalf of pro-GM lobby group Life Sciences Network.

"I put it to you that in the future organic agriculture will use GM technology," Dr Rolleston told the four commissioners in Wellington.

The pro-GM lobby was putting its case in the third week of hearings by the commission, which the Government set up to investigate how New Zealand should deal with gene science.

The Life Sciences Network is an umbrella grouping of pro-genetics organisations and companies, including the Dairy Board, the Universities of Auckland and Otago and the Wool Board.

Dr Rolleston, who was also representing Biotenz, a grouping of companies involved in biotechnology, is a registered medical practitioner and co-owner of a company which supplies equipment to the biotechnology industry.

He said genetically modified organisms should not be banned out of fear they would contaminate organic crops.

Once an experiment to implant or remove a particular gene had been approved, other, similar, work should not have to go through the approval process all over again.

Using the example of a firm which imports sheep semen, Dr Rolleston said the company drew up an importation standard and could continue importing the semen under that standard.

"That's certainly one method you could use to streamline future [GM] applications," he said.

In its written submission, the Life Sciences Network said New Zealand had no reason to be proud of the tough regime that genetic research endured under the Hazards and New Organisms Act.

The legislation meant scientists and research organisations were being subjected to unnecessary constraints.

Even low-risk research was subjected to a highly complicated approval process, and the public hearings required under the legislation were time-consuming and repetitive.

The submission compared the production or sale of genetically modified organisms to the risk passengers take when flying. The responsibility was on aircraft operators to make planes safe and the same should apply to the biotech industry.

The incentive was on the operator to do the job properly and the same principles could be easily transposed into the biotech industry.

In another written submission on behalf of the network, Professor Martina McGloughlin of the University of California said the biggest effects of gene science would be felt in agriculture.

She said "subtly altered" food products on American dinner tables had been subjected to tougher testing than conventional foods.

Many daily staple foods would be banned if subjected to the same tests today, she said.

They included potatoes and tomatoes, which contained chemicals linked to spina bifida and kidney beans which could be poisonous if not cooked properly.

Professor McGloughlin said millions of people worldwide had eaten genetically engineered foods and suffered no ill-effects.

The royal commission, which must report to the Government by June, will adjourn its formal hearings until November 20. It will hold two public meetings in Auckland on November 14 (Manukau City) and 15 (Alexandra Park).

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