RNZ this week reported that the newly-formed Bioeconomy Science Institute, which has absorbed AgResearch, is no longer doing genetic experiments on large animals like cattle or sheep, after its specialised facility in Waikato closed earlier this year.
But a report from Newsroom said “more herds could pop up within a year”, depending on what happens to the legislation intended to relax the current regulatory controls.
Parliament’s health select committee is due to report back on the Gene Technology Bill this week after extending its deadline twice.
But how the bill is finally enacted and what it allows scientists to do might be influenced by a new report by GE-Free NZ, a group which opposes genetic technologies, questions the success and ethics of past trials.
The report reviewed animal trials using genetic technologies like gene editing by AgResearch scientists at its animal containment facility at Ruakura in Waikato from 2015 to 2024.
Trials during that time included breeding cattle, sheep, and goats for specific traits like milk proteins, sterility and pharmaceutical proteins, based off Official Information Act responses from the Environmental Protection Authority and AgResearch reports.
The Institute said experiments have stopped because its specialised containment facility near Hamilton closed in late June.
Claire Bleakley, of GE-Free NZ, is the author of the report, which questions the success and ethics of the trials.
She said the trials failed to produce healthy animals and had poor commercial outcomes, resulting in widespread euthanasia.
The Soil & Health Association of New Zealand has pitched in by welcoming the end of the animal genetic engineering trials that have taken place at AgResearch’s Ruakura facility for more than two decades.
The Association applauded GE Free NZ for its documentation of spontaneous abortions, cancers, deformities and other adverse effects on cattle, sheep and goats.
Charles Hyland, chair of Soil & Health, said that after 25 years and tens of thousands of dollars of public money, the experiments had delivered no benefits.
His statement had a political edge.
“We are deeply concerned they [the trials] could resume if the proposed Gene Technology Bill is passed. Animals must not be subjected to such cruelty again,” he said.
“New Zealanders – and our overseas markets – expect high animal welfare standards and food that is healthy, ethical and safe. The future lies in organic and sustainable food and farming.”
Described by RNZ as the Institute’s chief scientist, Dr Axel Heiser said all the studies referenced in the GE Free NZ report followed strict animal welfare protocols and guidelines, and used genetic technologies to improve livestock health, productivity and sustainability.
He said the Institute would not initiate further research in New Zealand focussed on genetic modification of large animals,
He explained that this was due to “redevelopment of the land on which the large animal containment facility is located, the substantial investment required to undertake large animal research, and the implications for animals involved.”
“Whilst we believe gene technologies are an important tool for ensuring long-term sustainability of the agriculture sector, the Institute is looking at alternative ways of advancing knowledge for its use in animals, such as overseas collaboration.”
Newsroom’s report said:
Axel Heiser, AgResearch chief scientist at the new Bioeconomy Science Institute, told Newsroom the institute would wait to see what the new legislation allowed and develop a new research strategy over the coming months.
Further genetic testing is on the table: “We will keep an open mind in regard to large animal gene-tech research considering the regulatory framework and funding landscape,” Heiser said.
Animal experimentation with gene technologies has been heavily regulated in New Zealand under the Animal Welfare and Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act,
The Gene Technology Bill now before Parliament aims to introduce a new regulatory regime for GE research.
Newsroom noted:
In its current form, the bill would deregulate certain experimental methods, which the institute would look to take advantage of depending on how the law shapes up – if it passes at all.
Critics have called for stronger controls on which gene technologies ought to be regulated, a restriction on open-field testing, and a reworking of the legislation to decouple it from similar laws overseas.
Newsroom described the bill as a key driver of the coalition government’s economic growth agenda, which has been touted by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon as encouraging “solutions to agricultural emissions that don’t drive farmers off their land”.
Newsroom says it has covered the potential consequences of a gene tech-liberalised crop sector, where the bill’s impact is expected to be largest, with implications for trade and the environment.
Gene editing has produced successful results in New Zealand, most recently a world-first conifer strain. But the bill would also deregulate the technology for use on animals.
Containment facilities like this at Ruakura have been necessary to conduct genetic experimentation, but would not be required under the new bill as long as the genetic edits fell under a certain threshold of complexity.
