May 28, 2004

New Zealand's MAF To Disclose Fate Of Corn Crops

Government officials investigating maize seeds imported into New Zealand with contamination by genetically engineered seeds - despite New Zealand's "zero-tolerance" stance - are preparing to disclose what they are doing about the seeds that were grown to produce crops with potential GE content.

The contamination was allowed across the border because of shoddy interpretation by the American laboratory that has provided test certificates for 52 shipments - representing about 40 per cent of corn consignments from the US since January 2003.

New Zealand has a zero tolerance for GE material in seeds imported for sowing, but the laboratory Biogenetic Services, of Brookings, South Dakota, declared some samples with very low levels of contamination as not being GE seeds.

Recent checks have shown some of the seeds imported for planting were wrongly certified as GE-free.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has known of the contamination since May 5, and is expected to say tomorrow how it is managing the issue of contaminated seeds which were planted and harvested.

A spokesman for MAF said today that it had been working on an announcement for several days, and details were expected to be released today.

MAF's director of plant biosecurity, Richard Ivess, yesterday returned to Parliament's Local Government select committee - which is investigating the "corngate" controversy - to answer questions about how long the American laboratory had been making such interpretations.