Government-owned Crop and Food Research is seeking permission to trial caterpillar resistant cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and forage kale.
Lead researcher Dr Mary Christey has produced GE plants in the brassica family that produce a natural pesticide, Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria, or Bt. Caterpillars die within 48 hours, leaving the plant virtually undamaged.
Christey is now applying to the Environmental Risk Management Authority for approval to undertake field tests in Canterbury and a public hearing begins in Christchurch next week.
Crop & Food Research's General Manager Research Prue Williams says it is important that New Zealand scientists continue to explore the benefits of GM technology.
"This application for brassica research falls within the Government's recommendation to 'proceed with caution'. What we learn will be essential to robust assessment of GM technology.
"New Zealand must be involved with GM research in order to preserve options for the future. By staying on the leading edge of this research we can continue to explore science which should have outcomes of benefit to New Zealand," says Williams.
Christey has been working on the problem of brassica pests for more than five years. She says as anyone who grows cabbages knows, caterpillar pests can wreak havoc in a short space of time if they are not controlled.
