NZ Herald: Institute – Our GM safety has improved

Jarrod Booker writes in the New Zealand Herald about Plant and Food Research’s contention that its safety procedures are adequate, following an investigation into the second escape in 2 years of GM plants from a facility belonging to it.

It says that it has learned from the latest breach, and has tightened its procedures to above the levels required by the government.

Anti-GM groups are calling for all such experiments to stop.

An excerpt: (read in full here)

“Plant and Food Research says it has learned from the breaches, and since the latest, last November, its containment of GM material is now above the levels required by regulations.

“A report in the Herald on Sunday said an investigation into the most recent escape of genetically modified material, from a Plant and Food laboratory at Canterbury’s Lincoln University, found scientists had left routes open.

“Quoting papers released under the Official Information Act, the newspaper said the investigation began after GM cress plants (arabidopsis thaliana) were found growing outside a supposedly secure glasshouse.”