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NZ suspends genetically engineered salmon project
Source: NZPA
Published: Friday February 25, 5:35 PM

Wellington: The salmon farming company last year accused of breeding mutant fish says it has killed all its genetically-engineered fish and buried them.

NZ King Salmon Co Ltd chief executive Paul Steere said he had 'suspended' its research, now that it had successfully introduced an additional growth hormone gene into chinook salmon and passed the trait down three generations.

The next stage of work would have required significant resources to demonstrate to regulatory authorities that it could produce GE-salmon that were sterile.

Those financial and skill resources would be better applied to its conventional selective breeding program, which was already at the stage of commercial production.

'All modified salmon have been killed and disposed of, in accordance with containment protocols,' he said in a statement.

But the company would retain frozen sperm from GE-salmon 'at a secure location', so it was available to continue the program in the future.

'Our decision is purely based on the best placement of our resources, which, for a company of our size, are limited,' said Steere.

He denied that the decision to suspend the project was influenced by political and philosophical resistance.

Politicians and lobbyists opposed to genetically-engineered food have strongly criticised the salmon project. Green MP Jeanette Fitzsimons disclosed last year that some of the GE-salmon had developed abnormalities such as deformed heads, and Alliance leader Jim Anderton said during the election campaign that he wanted the project stopped at least until a royal commission investigated genetic engineering.

But Steere said that at times the political comment on the GE-salmon was distracting and misinformation vexatious if not mischievous.

'Throughout this project we have ensured high professional standards in both progressing the science involved and in containment for the protection of the environment,' he said.

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Comment:

Posted for general vexatious distraction from oils and elections.

Regards from OZ where 1/3 of Queensland is flooded, a disaster zone declared for Western New South Wales, and Uluru is completely awash. Nesting birds were blamed this week for 2000 electrical outages a year in Victoria. Haven't seen a Kentucky Fried Chook advert from the red-n-white striped hen-house all week. New Zealanders can't play cricket and are sore losers....mischievous SK minions conspicuously absent - no public sightings recorded.

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), February 25, 2000

Answers

Thanks, Pieter! Always good to hear from you.

-- (ladybuckeye_59@yahoo.com), February 25, 2000.

Pieter, thanks for continuing these interesting posts ... nesting birds? :-)

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), February 25, 2000.

Thanks Pieter, where ya been for so long?

-- canthappen (n@ysayer.com), February 25, 2000.

Pieter,

Not to be rude, but how do you pronounce your name? Is it PEE-ter or PIE-ter or something different?

Regards,

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), February 25, 2000.

Pieter

Did you sat one THIRD of Queensland is flooded?!?! That's alot of land to be flooded!!

Keep your feet dry and your...

-- eyes_open (best@wishes.2all), February 25, 2000.

G'Day everyone,
My name is pronounced with the 'i' = short 'e' as in Dieter. Try it as Piet - or better yet ask a Frisian or your neighbourhood Dutchman.

Regarding the floods in Australia. They are huge. Imagine Australia's land mass as you would the USA, they being about the same. A third of Queensland is totally flooded and declared a disaster region, most of Western NSW is flooded and declared a disaster zone, Northern South Australia is awash with the usually dry saltlakes filling quickly. Alice Springs and Uluru is impassable and lots of Tourists are stranded. Major rescues by helicopter happening right now. Large stock and property losses reported too.

To get a grip on the area affected think of it as 15% - 20% of all of America. Some commentators have it as the biggest recorded floods with levels 6 metres above normal. It's pretty big anyway.

Regards from the deepest South of OZ where it is very dry. Driest-n-hottest spell for 70 years. Go figure.

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), February 25, 2000.

Pieter,

Thx

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), February 25, 2000.

Pieter, meant to ask: has the heat let up on ya? I hope so.

-- canthappen (n@ysayer.com), February 25, 2000.

canthappen,
It's been hot all week, mid 30s Cel. etc. Nice mid 20s C today. Last Saturday we had the worst bushfire since 1983 when 75 lives were lost between Adelaide and Melbourne, with 14 or so locally. My friends got themselves caught in a freaky fire rush on Saturday with burns all around. Several superbig firetrucks lost through brakelines burning through. It's been a long dry hot spell and it'll go on for another month or so.

Otherwise been busy writing web stuff for a commerce site. Grunt work for them that think we're psychic.

Regards again from OZ

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), February 25, 2000.