Issue 3, 30 October 2006
Welcome to the third edition of Germplasm News. The objective of this newsletter is to provide people with an interest in importing new plants species into New Zealand with information about how to successfully engage with the Hazardous Substance and New Organisms (HSNO) Act.
Importation of plants into New Zealand and the beauty of broad organism descriptions
From magazine articles, radio interviews and news reports, it is apparent that there are misconceptions about difficulties in importing new plant genetic material into New Zealand under the existing HSNO legislation. Reasons cited are that the process is too expensive, is too complicated and/or is too hard to get approvals accepted by ERMA New Zealand. To date, ERMA New Zealand has received only four applications for plant importations, three of which have been approved. This low number of applications has led us to believe that these misunderstandings about the application process are true. To attempt to dispel some of these misconceptions, this issue of Germplasm News follows a parable from the initial importation of plants into NZ through to the release of the plant(s) into the environment and the different types of applications and their costs each step of the way.
A Parable of a Plant Import
During a trip to the outer reaches of Mongolia, a New Zealand company, PlantNZ, identified a new forage crop from the genus Ermanzia that could increase milk fat production by 20%. BUT it was a new plant to New Zealand. Several species were of interest, including E. alpha, E. beta, E. gamma and E. delta. PlantNZ wished to bring these into New Zealand to use in a breeding programme with the already present forage crop white ermanzia.
PlantNZ approached ERMA New Zealand and were informed that they would require an approval to ‘import into containment a new organism that is not genetically modified'. PlantNZ received an application form, which, over the course of 30 working days, and with help and advice from ERMA New Zealand, they completed. A maximum of 60 working days later, at a cost of $2,250, PlantNZ had HSNO Act approval to import the entire Ermanzia genus into containment. PlantNZ was able to bring in the entire Ermanzia genus because the species had similar characteristics to each other with regards to growth habit.
After a year of intensive breeding and basic glasshouse experiments, PlantNZ were ready to take their new plants out into the field. At this point they could have applied for a release approval, but they decided that because of some uncertainty about potential adverse effects, ie, toxicity to stock animals, they wanted to restrict testing to a single field site. As E. alpha had failed to produce viable second-generation plants, it had been dropped from the breeding programme. However, progeny of E. beta, E. gamma and E. delta were showing promise. PlantNZ returned to ERMA New Zealand, and after approximately three months and another $2,250 they had an approval to ‘field test' the three varieties. While this allowed PlantNZ to evaluate the plants in the open environment, strict controls were placed on the approval which prevented the plants escaping.
During 2 years of intensive field trialling, hybrids of E. beta proved unable to survive the cold winters in Central Otago and E. delta hybrids proved poisonous to stock.
E. gamma, however, was ready for commercialisation. While PlantNZ could have applied for release two and a half years earlier, they felt that having done extensive testing in New Zealand had provided them with the information they would require for a full release application. ERMA New Zealand and PlantNZ worked hard over a three-month period to get the final application ready for submission. PlantNZ had planned for this eventually and had acquired funding to pay the $33,750 fee.
Another aspect of the application was a requirement to consult with Maori. This was an extensive process, but the ERMA New Zealand Maori Unit focussed PlantNZ's efforts and helped them achieve the most effective consultation with iwi possible.
Following public notification of the application, which generated submissions from concerned citizens about impacts on native forage plants, a hearing was held. After the hearing, the Authority - the decision makers of ERMA New Zealand - used all of the information provided by PlantNZ, the submissions and an analysis provided by the ERMA New Zealand Agency to carry out a risk-benefit assessment. One hundred working days after submission of the application, having determined that the risks to the environment, Maori culture, human health, society and community and the economy of releasing Ermanzia gamma were outweighed by the benefits, the Authority approved release.
Approvals update…
Since the last newsletter in March 2006, 108 species of plants have been added to the Plant Biosecurity Index.
Check out our next issue for:
Other types of import applications and the process involved for approval
Contact:
Geoff RidleyScience Manager, New Organisms
Geoff.Ridley@ermanz.govt.nz
(04)9184795 Brenda Pottinger
Environmental Risk Advisor, New Organisms
Brenda.Pottinger@ermanz.govt.nz
(04) 9184797