THIRD WORLD NETWORK BIOSAFETY INFORMATION SERVICE

5 August 2005

Dear friends and colleagues,

RE:  Food chain vulnerable to GM contamination

The recent discovery of GM corn in New Zealand shows how vulnerable the food chain is to contamination. No GM maize has been approved for commercial crops in New Zealand, and tests before or at the border are supposed to pick up GM seed in corn sent from overseas for planting.

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) officials are now tracing a complex mix of seed lines and growers to try to work out how a big corn consignment tested positive for GM seed. The corn - all grown for food in one region of New Zealand and stored in a variety of locations in the upper North Island - was tested by a food manufacturer as part of quality assurance checks. This is about the sixth such incident in the past three years.

In 2000, thousands of GM corn plants were grown in Gisborne, Hawke's Bay and Marlborough from a contaminated consignment from the United States. The ensuing political scandal that erupted (allegations that the Government had deliberately covered up the incident) became known as "Corngate".

According to Professor Jack Heinemann of the New Zealand Institute of Gene Ecology (NZIGE), one of two experts called upon by the Parliamentary Select Committee reviewing procedures on GM detection following "Corngate", relying on the biotech industry and the occasional expert panel to keep them current on threats is not sufficient. NZIGE urges the government to take seriously the need to create career pathways for independent biosafety research professionals in order to improve the country's capacity to detect and identify unwanted GM organisms.

NZIGE also disapproves of calls to introduce new "tolerance limits" for unknown GE organisms in food and feed, saying that until it is known what was modified, how and for what purpose, there can be no scientifically determined safety level.

We have attached below a statement by NZIGE on the issue of contamination of GM corn for your reference. Their analysis and observations apply to other countries grappling with the possibility of contamination. 

With best wishes,

Chee Yoke Heong and Lim Li Ching
Third World Network
121-S Jalan Utama
10450 Penang
Malaysia
Email: twnet@po.jaring.my
Website: www.twnside.org.sg

REF: Doc.TWN/Biosafety/2005/I

New Zealand Institute of Gene Ecology

Tel: +64 3 364 2500, Fax: + 64 3 364 2590
Email: jack.heinemann@canterbury.ac.nz

31 July 2005

GM in corn demonstrating vulnerability of our food chain

The current investigation of GM corn on the North Island should be a wake-up call to government, scientists and security professionals, the Director of the New Zealand Institute of Gene Ecology (NZIGE) at Canterbury University, Assoc. Prof. Jack Heinemann, said today. According to MAF, this is the sixth such detection in only three years. "MAF and seed importers must continue to be vigilant, otherwise we may not always be aware of what someone is accidentally or purposefully concealing in our food."

Professor Heinemann was one of two experts called upon by the Parliamentary Select Committee reviewing procedures on GM detection following "Corngate". He and colleagues have published detailed analyses of how easy it is to overlook such contamination even when the intention is not to conceal it. Their research appears in some of the most prestigious international biotechnology journals.

"We really have no idea how many cases go undetected, so six should be taken as the minimum number of incursions" said Heinemann. Food and feed must be protected from unwanted biological contaminants. While this corn supply has tested positive for some GM content, MAF have not yet indicated whether they have discovered the organism responsible for the GM reading. Is it a GM microorganism amongst the corn? Is it the corn itself? If it is corn, what is the modification? These investigations are not simply bookkeeping, they are necessary to determine what threat the contaminant poses, by whom it was modified and for what purpose."

The field of genetic engineering is changing so rapidly that our frontline biosecurity professionals cannot rely on the biotech industry and the occasional expert panel to keep them current on threats. The Institute has long advocated that the government take seriously the need to create career pathways for biosafety research professionals. "New Zealand needs to improve its capacity to detect and identify unwanted GM organisms. Such safety-oriented research has been consistently under-funded and underdeveloped by a government science policy that increasingly values science only insofar as it promises to deliver private-sector profits," adds Dr. Joanna Goven, Deputy Director of the NZIGE. The Crown Research Institutes' commercial orientation and dependence on partnerships with industry conflict with their role to carry out public-interest research that may threaten commercial interests. The government needs to consider an alternative model for biosafety research.

The Institute is also disappointed with calls to introduce new "tolerance limits" for unknown GE organisms in food and feed. "Apparently, Life Sciences Network is calling for 'a scientifically determined tolerance level'. Until we know what was modified, how and for what purpose, there can be no scientifically determined safety level. How is a scientist to judge how much can be eaten, or how much could escape into the environment, without causing harm? Such opinions have no scientific grounding" Heinemann said. "They may serve the economic interests of some, but they shouldn't be associated with the science of safety."