3 April 2007
The Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA New Zealand) will hold a hearing on an application by the New Zealand Institute for Crop and Food Research to assess the agronomic performance of four genetically-modified vegetable and forage brassicas.
News media can attend the hearing, but the Authority’s rules prohibit recording of pictures or sound within the hearing.
The hearing will be held at the Millennium Hotel, 14 Cathedral Square, Christchurch from 9am, Wednesday 11 April.
Crop and Food applied last year to field test genetically modified brassicas: three vegetable (broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower), and one forage brassica (forage kale) in the Lincoln region over 10 years.
The applicant requests approval to field test brassicas modified for resistance to caterpillar pests like cabbage white butterfly and diamond-back moth, with genes derived from the bacterium Bacillus thuringensis.
Crop and Food proposes that the field test be on a small scale of around 0.4 hectares, with the plants removed before flowering to prevent the spread of pollen.
The hearing is open to the public, though only the applicant and those who have made a submission requesting to be heard can participate.
More information, including a schedule with a proposed order of speakers, can be found on the ERMA New Zealand website.Media contact: David Venables, Manager, Communications, ERMA New Zealand
- Telephone +64 4 918 4835
- Mobile: +64 21 224 3304
- Facsimile +64 4 914 0433
- Website: www.ermanz.govt.nz
- Email: info@ermanz.govt.nz