Minister queries bread ban

By SIMON COLLINS

Japan's reaction against genetically modified material in New Zealand bread could be a trade barrier in disguise, says Science Minister Pete Hodgson.

He told science and health journalists at a training seminar in Wellington that the enzyme found in Subway sandwich bread made by Manaia's Yarrows bakery was "more protein than DNA".

"It can't self-replicate," he said. "So is there any difference in a food ingredient produced from a GE source and a food ingredient produced from a conventional source?"

He compared it to insulin which diabetics inject into themselves - a product made from genetically modified bacteria, because that was safer than taking it from pigs.

"If you start to think through what is acceptable and what is unacceptable about these two enzymes in respect of what the Japanese have to say about it, then you might want to explore to what extent it is a set-up, and to what extent it is actually a trade barrier, and whether trade barriers can be lifted," he told the journalists.

He was not suggesting that the Japanese rejection of Yarrows bread was purely a trade barrier, he said. He was merely urging journalists to ask the questions.

"How did it come about? What about the timing? Has this got free trade implications?" he said. "I simply don't know."