May 12, 2004

More GM-Contaminated Corn Seeds Found In New Zealand

The Agriculture and Forestry Ministry confirmed last night that an audit of Biogenetic Services had identified 1317 contaminated seed bags that had been imported into New Zealand since January 2003.

Of those, 351 had been sold to grain and seed merchants, and MAF officers were working to determine how many had been planted. The remaining bags were in the importer's warehouse and had been seized.

The ministry stressed that the level of contamination - about 50 seeds out of every 100,000 ¨C was extremely low. The modifying agent, known as LibertyLink T25, had also been approved as safe for human consumption by New Zealand food standard authorities.

According to Ms Fitzsimons, the news that New Zealand's zero-tolerance GM approach had again been breached would damage the country's reputation overseas. She said a scientist in the Greens' research office had calculated that the 351 bags would have contained more than 22,000 contaminated seeds.

"Each of those plants will carry about 100 GE seeds, and that is serious because it's a big enough release to cross-pollinate."

She stated that Biogenetic Services was the same laboratory that missed contaminated seeds in the so-called "Corngate" importation in 2000. She understood it also tested and missed GM seeds that were imported and harvested last year and later sent to Japan, where they were labelled as GM-free pizza topping.

The corn caused an outcry in Japan after tests there revealed the contamination.

Richard Ivess, MAF's director of plant biosecurity, said an audit of Biogenetics in March had caused alarm and led to the laboratory's immediate suspension.

The audit found that the laboratory was not reporting levels of contamination that it considered too small to confirm. "As far as we are concerned in New Zealand, it is irrelevant at what level the GM is," he said.