Christchurch, New Zealand
July 10, 2003

The New Zealand Institute of Crop and Food Research's application for a contained field test on genetically modified onions falls within the Government’s recommendation to "proceed with caution", says chief executive, Paul Tocker.

The Crown Research Institute has applied to the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) to develop onion plants tolerant to the low toxicity, biodegradable herbicide, glyphosate (see Application to field test genetically modified onions submitted).

This onion research is part of a long term breeding and environmental impact programme that has the potential to provide substantial benefits for growers, consumers and the environment, Mr Tocker said. If successful, the herbicide resistant plants would allow onion growers to use fewer and safer sprays. Commercial growers have difficulty controlling weeds, which smother the young onion plants, and are seeking ways to reduce herbicide use.

Mr Tocker said, "The GM onion contained field test is extremely low risk - it is a carefully chosen model that is aimed to answer important environmental impact questions with negligible risk to the environment. Any application for commercial use of the herbicide resistant onions will be at least 8 to 10 years away.”

Onions are New Zealand's fourth largest horticultural export ($100 million in 2002) and Mr Tocker said New Zealand is leading the world in many areas of onion research.

"This research has the potential to provide a competitive advantage for the New Zealand onion industry and for the development of Kiwi technology for global markets," he said.

Crop & Food Research onion scientist, Dr Colin Eady, said the test plants will have a gene added to make them tolerant to the herbicide glyphosate. The same gene has been used overseas to develop herbicide resistant soybean, corn and canola. These crops have been grown commercially overseas in large areas for some years and are considered to be safe.

Dr Eady said Crop & Food Research scientists have developed different lines of herbicide tolerant onions in the laboratory and contained glasshouse trials.

"These now need to be tested in the field as plants can grow a little differently in glasshouses and in the field. Also, more detailed environmental impact studies are needed."

Dr Eady said, onions produce the onion bulb in their first season and then flower the following year. As the bulbs will be lifted after the first year, no pollen will be produced in the proposed field test.

"Occasionally a small number of onions "bolt" to seed in the first season - these bolters are very obvious and will be removed long before they flower," he said.

“We want to carefully and objectively assess these onions for the environment, for those who potentially may consume them, and for those involved with their growing and processing,” Dr Eady said.

Biography of Dr Eady

Colin Eady spent his childhood within the farming community of East Anglia in the UK. He studied zoology and genetics at the University of Sheffield, followed by a postgraduate certificate in education before embarking on a Ph.D in plant biotechnology. As a student he took a great interest in environmental matters and for a short time joined the environmental group Friends of the Earth, as a sign of his concern about pesticide use within agriculture.

For his Ph.D he studied cell fusion as a method of transferring agronomic traits to sugarbeet from wild relatives. Though not technically GM work it was carried out within GM laboratories at the famous Rothamsted Experimental Research Station, Harpenden, UK. It was here Colin saw the potential of GM to help alleviate huge pesticide use by the agricultural industry. It is also when he first got the opportunity to travel to New Zealand He spent three months on environmental projects in Fiordland. During early postdoctoral research Colin worked on a UK government project at the University of Leicester investigating early concerns of GM pollen escaping field sites.

In 1994, Colin and family got the opportunity to work at Crop & Food Research in New Zealand on Onion Biotechnology. After four years, his team developed the world’s first onion transformation system. This is now being used for improving agronomic traits and investigating health and nutrition aspect of onion biochemistry. In addition to the onion biotechnology, Colin currently lectures at the Lincoln University and is a project leader within the Advanced Agri-Biotechnology theme at the National Centre for Advanced Bio-Protection Technologies.

Outside work Colin enjoys family life with his partner and three children. Any spare time is spent doing gardening, renovating or sport.