The New Zealand sweet corn industry would not be able to sustain its own breeding programme, an industry spokesman said amidst controversy over the discovery of genetically engineered (GE) material in Gisborne corn.

Vegetable Growers' Federation chief executive Peter Silcock said New Zealand bought all its seed from overseas. He said if there was a ban imposed on imported seed as a result of the contamination, it would kill the industry -- worth between $40 million and $60 million a year in income to New Zealand.

"That would pretty much be the end of our sweetcorn production industry," he told National Radio. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) is investigating how the Gisborne crops were contaminated at four sites. Tests had found Bt11 -- an insect-resistant variety of sweetcorn and the only commercially available GE sweetcorn variety. 

The Green Party today called for seed to only be bought from countries with good biosecurity and seed testing facilities.

Mr Silcock said most seed was bought from large United States and European producers. It was cheaper to import seed, and decades of breeding seeds here would be needed to get commercial results.

"We're talking about tens of millions of dollars a year in investment that's required to run a good breeding programme," Mr Silcock said. 

The New Zealand industry would not be able to sustain its own breeding programme, he said. "If we were to stop importing sweet corn today, and we said we're not going to start producing until we breed our own in eight to ten years, I'm not sure what sort of place we would have in the market at that time."

Meanwhile Green Party spokeswoman Sue Kedgley said the Government should not lift a GE moratorium -- due to happen in October.

"If the Government doesn't extend the moratorium, it is playing roulette with growers' earnings and the country's economic future," she said in a statement.

Environment Minister Marian Hobbs, also Associate Biosecurity Minister, earlier said the incident had nothing to do with the lifting of the moratorium.

"The only way you can stop this happening has nothing to do with the moratorium. I will repeat it like a mantra. It is to do with the importation of seeds into New Zealand," she said.

As long New Zealand imported seed the problem would exist. She queried where seed would come from if imports from the US were banned. "The only way you can grant that perfect 100 percent assurance ... is not to import, and to say, `we won't have this industry in New Zealand. We
won't grow any wheat, we won't grow any corn, we won't grow any of these other seeds that we import. We'll just stop ... and rely on our very small genetic pool'."

However, Greenpeace said the seed contamination and moratorium were linked. "This contamination is a wake-up call and has got everything to do with the moratorium," Greenpeace spokesman Steve Abel said in a statement.

"Once you release GE into the environment it spreads in unpredictable and uncontrollable ways. MAF are still baffled as to how this has happened and that is exactly why GE should be kept in the lab."

The contaminated Gisborne seed was discovered after a pizza manufacturer in Japan received positive GE test results on a topping containing the processed kernels.

Today the company that sold the corn said it was unlikely to sell the rest of it, which remained in a New Zealand warehouse. 
Sunrise Coast New Zealand managing director Tim Chrisp said only a few tonnes of the corn had been sold to Japan. It was a trial of a finished food service product, in which kernels had been taken from the cobs and sold in plastic bags for the food service market.

The company had not decided what to do with the remainder.
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Stuff website front page

MAF winds up GE corn probe
08 July 2003 Government officials will today wind up an investigation into how genetically engineered (GE) corn found its way on to a Gisborne farm.

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) staff began investigating after a pizza manufacturer in Japan received positive GE test results on a topping containing the processed kernels.

Officials were "reasonably confident" they would have finished looking at Sunrise Coast Ltd, which sold the corn, and surrounding sites, by this morning, MAF spokesman Brett Sangster said.

Test results have confirmed a very low level of GE contamination of products made from sweetcorn grown at the four sites.

MAF biosecurity group director Barry O'Neil said yesterday the tests showed the presence of Bt11, an insect-resistant variety of sweetcorn and the only commercially available GE sweetcorn variety.

The corn is widely grown in the United States and eaten by people and animals. Mr Sangster said MAF staff were looking at whether contaminated seed had "cross-pollinated" with normal seed in fields near the four sites.

An audit of Sunrise Coast was to satisfy MAF on its harvesting and manufacturing processes, he said. Yesterday, Sunrise Coast said it was unlikely to sell the rest of its corn, which remained in a New Zealand warehouse. Sunrise can legally sell the corn in New Zealand without labels because it is less than 1 per cent contaminated and the contamination is not deliberate.

Sunrise New Zealand managing director Tim Chrisp said a few tonnes of the corn had been sold to Japan. It was a trial of a finished food service product, in which kernels were taken from cobs and sold in plastic bags for the food service market.

The company had not decided what to do with the remainder. Prime Minister Helen Clark indicated yesterday that the incident did not mean a moratorium on commercial GE release should be extended.

The moratorium was to be lifted in October, amid heightened political tensions between the Government and its ally, the Green Party.

A review released last week of government GE watchdog the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) failed to appease the Green Party.

GE-contaminated seeds had got into the country, even with a moratorium, Miss Clark said. Herald website 8-7-3 ----------------------------------
New GM alert no reason to prolong moratorium says Clark

08.07.2003
By KEVIN TAYLOR, political reporter
The discovery that genetically modified sweetcorn was grown near Gisborne does not mean a moratorium on commercial GM release should be extended,
says Prime Minister Helen Clark.

But GM opponents such as the Green Party were yesterday turning up the heat on the Government as the end of the moratorium in October draws closer.

On Friday the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry revealed a New Zealand company had alerted it to GM-positive tests carried out in Japan by a pizza-maker on a topping mix containing the sweetcorn grown near Gisborne.

Testing over the weekend showed the presence of Bt11, an insect and herbicide-resistant GM sweetcorn variety that can legally be eaten in New Zealand but not grown here.

MAF was yesterday still investigating how the sweetcorn grown by Sunrise Coast NZ was contaminated. Meanwhile, Helen Clark said on radio the issue was not one of food safety, so it did not worry her in that sense. "It's a very low level of concentration, but obviously MAF's going to want to get to the bottom of how it happened when the seed as such was certified as GM-free.

"We have to get to the bottom of why it then popped up in a processed product down the line, but I don't think it's any reason to continue the moratorium."

MAF is investigating possible causes of contamination - from the imported US seed, from cross-contamination from adjacent fields, during harvesting and processing, and during laboratory testing.

Green Party safe food spokeswoman Sue Kedgley said the "fiasco" should cause the Government to rethink its plan to let such crops grow commercially.

"Despite the Government's defensive posture, the entire incident brings home to us the risks to our markets if we lift the moratorium," Ms Kedgley said.

She said even a tiny amount of contamination could imperil export markets, which demanded GM-free supplies. "If the Government doesn't extend the moratorium, it is playing roulette with growers' earnings and the country's economic future."

The party is being backed by the Sustainability Council, chaired by businessman and former Federated Farmers president Sir Peter Elworthy.

Sunrise Coast managing director Tim Chrisp also opposes lifting the moratorium.
The market required its products to be GM-free, he said, and the affair could damage his business. 

Act rural affairs spokesman Gerry Eckhoff accused the Greens of scaremongering over "minuscule amounts" of GM material that may or may not have originated in New Zealand.
"The real problem is not genetically modified organisms, but ... organisms such as fire ants, mosquitoes, varroa mites, painted apple moths and the like."
He said more than 66 million hectares of GM crops were grown worldwide and GM organisms posed no risk to health. Environment Minister Marian Hobbs yesterday repeated that the issue had nothing to do with the GM moratorium. But Greenpeace's genetic engineering campaigner, Steve Abel, said the contamination had "everything" to do with the moratorium.

"MAF are still baffled as to how this has happened and that is exactly why GE should be kept in the lab." GENETICALLY MODIFIED CORN Why was the corn genetically altered? To ward off insects and allow certain herbicides to be used to control weeds. How was it done? The "cry1Ab" gene from a common soil bacterium was inserted, letting Bt11 produce its own insecticide which is only lethal to moth and butterfly larvae. To resist glufosinate ammonium, the active ingredient in some herbicides, the "pat" gene from a common soil fungi-like bacterium was inserted. It pro! duces an enzyme to convert glufosinate ammonium into an inactive and harmless form.

Does this make the corn unsafe to eat?
No. Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), an independent agency, assesses the safety of GM foods before they are approved for sale. FSANZ concluded in its safety assessment that food derived from Bt11 corn was safe for human consumption. Bt11 was officially approved in 2001.

How did the authorities determine that the insect-resisting process was safe? Bt11 was compared with non-GM corn to identify whether it had different levels of allergens, toxins, nutrients or anti-nutrients that are naturally present in any food. Officials concluded food derived from Bt11 corn was safe.

Should the GM moratorium remain to prevent cases similar to the Gisborne sweetcorn incident? The Government says there is no need to extend the moratorium on commercial release beyond October. Opponents say it should stay to protect our "clean and green" image, environment, and valuable export markets.

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