Out today.

Aucklanders will be asked whether trials of genetically modified organisms should be allowed in their area as councils consider imposing local bans.

Several councils in the Northland and Auckland regions have grown increasingly frustrated at what some say is a lack of proper control over GM field trials by Government authorities.

A telephone poll next month - jointly funded by the Auckland regional and Waitakere, Rodney, Far North, Whangarei and Kaipara city and district councils - will ask a sample of more than 2000 residents whether they are happy to leave GM controls to the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) or if they would like additional local rules.

A working group of seven Auckland and Northland councils (the six backing the poll and the Northland Regional Council) has obtained a legal opinion concluding councils probably have the power to ban or limit GM activities using rules in district plans.

Working group co-ordinator Dr Kerry Grundy, of the Whangarei District Council, said there was a lot of concern over who would foot the bill if genetically engineered field trials went wrong and contaminated the produce of other farmers, or tarnished a region's "clean, green" image.


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AdvertisementCouncils wanted to know if there was support in the community for local regulation, he said.

Members of the working party are considering whether they could agree on a common regulatory system to apply north of the Auckland urban centre.

Erma approves or rejects applications to import and develop genetically engineered material in New Zealand.

This month GE-free New Zealand won a High Court ruling that Erma was wrong to accept applications from taxpayer-funded science company AgResearch for the laboratory testing of human and monkey cell lines and the development of GM cows, buffalo, sheep, pigs, goats, llamas, alpacas, deer and horses.

Green Party GM spokeswoman Jeanette Fitzsimons said that case and examples of poorly managed field trials of Erma-approved projects showed Government authorities were getting it wrong.

"Erma rules have been shown not to work ... so I really applaud the councils for taking action."

She said councils were right to consult residents first to see whether they wanted them to get involved.

Dr Grundy said the phone poll would be done by Colmar Brunton and would ask enough people to be statistically significant.

The next stage could be a public submissions process that would allow interest groups to have a say.

Several councils unsuccessfully lobbied the Government to amend the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Actto clarify councils' responsibilities or to give them a say in Erma's decision-making process.

Many councils from Auckland north have already adopted statements saying they support a cautious approach to, or may look at banning, GE trials in their areas until there is more information about the risks and benefits.

In February, a 10-year genetic modification trial was cancelled and another put on hold after two years when anti-GMcampaigners exposed breaches of field trial rules that risked contamination of the environment.

The Crown science institute Plant and Food Research admitted serious failures in a vegetable trial at Lincoln, near Christchurch, after plants that should have been destroyed were instead left to flower, exposing the environment to their GM pollen.

At the time, a Plant and Food spokesman said the breach was an embarrassing lapse by the institute.

Supporters of the trial said it promised important benefits in food production and would keep New Zealand up with the world in science.