King holds off approval of GE corn
NZPA | Thursday, 2 August 2007

The Government says it will not immediately buy into a trans-Tasman food regulator's decision to declare a new form of corn genetically engineered for stockfeed to be safe for human consumption.
"New Zealand is not proceeding immediately to gazette the amendment to the genetic modification standard in the joint Food Standards Code for food derived from high lysine corn (LY038)," Food Safety Minister Annette King said.
The corn - engineered to add weight to pigs and poultry - was approved for humans by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) because the Monsanto biotech company expects it to turn up in corn-based foods.
New Zealand scientists said there was concern the high levels of the amino acid lysine in LY038 corn may trigger diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer and diabetes, and questioned the FSANZ decision to compare it with another GE corn, rather than a conventional corn with a good safety record.
Mrs King has asked the New Zealand Food Safety Authority, to provide her with more advice as to the "appropriateness" for New Zealand to accept amendments for varieties intended for use as animal feed under the trans-Tasman agreement on joint food standards.
New Zealand has previously stood aside from one other FSANZ decision, and refused to require country-of-origin labels on imported foods, a decision driven by the majority of Australian ministers on the ministerial council which decides on proposals from FSANZ.

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