Francesca Rudkin: Should we still be afraid of gene editing?

During the 2002 election campaign, New Zealand was having a major debate about the safety of genetically modified food. One memory you might have from this time is a televised interview between 3 News’s John Campbell, and Prime Minister Helen Clark. Campbell, fired up and informed by Nicky Hager's yet-to-be-published book Seeds of Distrust, alleged there had been a cover-up over the suspected release of GE corn seed in 2000. The tension was palpable. Clark was furious about being ambushed by Campbell, later labelling him a “sanctimonious little creep”. Remember that? It was an extraordinary interview, and it marked the beginning of Corngate, and it also made genetic engineering a politically untouchable subject.   

But that is all about to change.   

Yesterday the Government announced it is moving forward on its intentions to overhaul restrictions on the use of gene editing and other genetic technologies in New Zealand and establish a dedicated regulator. A regulator is being put in place to give the public confidence in this new approach.   

Legislation is expected to go to Parliament by the end of the year, removing regulatory hurdles on developing genetic technology beyond the lab that has been in place for the last 30 years. These new regulations will put us in line with the approach that Australia is taking. 

Back in 2002, like a lot of people, I was interested in the Royal Commission of Inquiry and Corngate scandal and concerned about the potential impact of releasing GM crops into the environment.   

But like all technology – so much as changed over the last couple of decades, and if we don’t readdress these regulations then, as former chief scientist Professor Sir Peter Gluckman has warned NZ runs the risk of becoming a biotech backwater. 

We can already buy products on our shelves that are genetically modified – they must be labelled, and we have a choice as to whether we buy them, but I can understand why some people are still concerned about the environmental releases of GE crops. Therefore, the government needs to make sure they get this piece of legislation right. It’s good to see robust risk assessments will be in place, which may also include public consultation before the regulator is satisfied with the risks can be managed.   

But there is so much more we can do with GE than just grow food. Over the last few decades, we have seen what GE can contribute to medicine, agriculture and the environment. As Science reporter Jamies Morton pointed out in the NZ Herald today. 

Look at Wellington’s Malaghan Institute and its development of CAR T-cell cancer therapies that involves collecting a patient’s immune cells, genetically modifying the cells to recognise and kill their cancer and returning the cells to the patient as treatment. Current restrictions around research like this have proven challenging for scientists to work with. 

Another company is developing gene-edited sterile Douglas fir trees as a way to help tackle the spread of wilding pines across our landscapes, but is having to conduct field trials in the US. 

At AgResearch, scientists have been looking at whether gene editing might unlock a pathway in white clover leading to specific compounds that might also help cut methane and nitrogen pollution. The new laws would make it easier for the agency to run controlled field trials here in New Zealand 

Implanting genetically modified sperm, eggs and embryos will remain prohibited. 

So, is it something to still be afraid of?   

A survey on 1029 people run by Primary Purpose, a research firm specializing in primary industries discovered that attitudes on using genetic tech in food were approximately split into thirds: 34 percent support, 31 percent opposition and 34 percent were unsure. So how do you feel about it?   

This is new territory for New Zealand – it's a move away from a cautionary approach. But are we at the point now whereby the benefits for society outweigh the risks.   

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carrywood of Morning's podcast from news
Talk Set B.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
During the two thousand and two election campaign, New Zealand
was having a major debate about the safety of genetically
modified food. One memory you might have from that time
is a televised interview between three news is John Campbell
and Prime Minister Helen Clark. Now Campbell he was fired

(00:33):
up and informed by Nicky Hagen's yet to be published
book Seeds of Distrust, alleged there had been a cover
up over the suspected release of ge corn seed in
two thousand. You remember this interview. If you saw it,
you will because we haven't sort of seen anything else
like it. It's one of a kind. The tension was palpable.

(00:55):
Clark was furious about being ambushed by Campbell, later labeling
him a sanct demonious little creep. It was an extraordinary
interview and it marked the beginning of Cornngate, remember corn Gate.
And it also made genetic engineering a politically untouchable subject.

(01:16):
But that's all about to change. Yesterday the government announced
it as moving forward on its intention to overhaul restrictions
on the use of gene editing and other genetic technologies.
In New Zealand, and it's going to establish a dedicated
regulator to oversee it. So the regulator has been put
in place to give the public confidence and this new

(01:37):
approach legislation is expected to go to Parliament by the
end of the year. We're moving pretty quickly removing regulatory
hurdles on developing genetic technology beyond the lab that has
been in place for the last thirty years. So these
new regulations will put us in line with the approach
that Australia is taking around ge. Back in two thousand

(02:02):
and two, like a lot of people, I was interested
in the Royal Commission of Inquiry and the Corngate scandal,
and I was concerned about the potential impact of releasing
GM crops into the environment. But like all technology, so
much has changed over the last couple of decades, and
if we don't readdress these regulations, then, as former Chief

(02:24):
Scientist Professor Sir Peter Gluckman has warned, New Zealand runs
the risk of becoming a biotech backwater. We can, of
course already buy products on our shelves that are genetically modified.
They must be labeled. Wondering if you've checked your tofu
recently and we have a choice as to whether we
buy them. But I can still understand why people are

(02:46):
concerned about the environmental releases of GE crops. Therefore, the
government does need to make sure they get this piece
of legislation right. It is good to see robust risk
assessments will be in place, which may also include public
consultation before the regulator is satisfied that the risks can
be managed. Is that enough for you? But there is

(03:10):
so much more that we can do with GE than
just grow food, and over the last few decades we
have seen what GE can contribute to medicine, agriculture and
the environment, as Science reported. Jamie Morton pointed out in
The Herald this morning look at Wellington's Malagan Institute and

(03:33):
its development of Cartes cell cancer therapies that involves collecting
a patient's immune cells, genetically modifying the cells to recognize
and kill their cancer, and returning the cells to the
patient as a treatment. It's remarkable what they're doing and
current restrictions around research like this have proven challenging for
the scientists to work with. Another company is developing gene

(03:54):
edited sterile Douglas fir trees as a way to help
tackle the spread of wilding pines across our landscape, but
it's having to conduct field trials in the US, so
that would make a difference. And at AG research scientists
have been looking at whether gene editing might unlock a
pathway in white clover leading to specific compounds that might
also help cut methane and nitrogen pollution. And once again

(04:17):
the new laws would make it easy for the agency
to run controlled field trials here in New Zealand. It's
probably important to note here that implanting genetically modified sperm,
eggs and embryos will remain prohibited, So is this still
something to be afraid of? A survey of over a

(04:38):
thousand people run by Primary Purpose, which is a research
firm specializing and primary industries, discovered that attitudes on using
genetic tech and food were approximately split into thirds, so
thirty four percent support, thirty one percent of pose, and
thirty four percent were unsure. So how do you feel
about it? This is very much new territory for New Zealand.

(05:01):
It's move away from the cautionary approach that we've had
for thirty years. But are we at a point now
where by the benefits of society outweigh the risks.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
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