Science Media Centre

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has responded to criticism alleging products relying on a new gene silencing technology are entering the food supply without adequate scrutiny. Earlier this year, a scientific review raised concerns that double-stranded RNA molecules produced in new genetically modified crops could pose a risk to human health. The paper’s authors, including Professor Jack Heinemann at [...]

UPDATED: New funding to combat rheumatic fever announced today will provide for free drop-in clinics for sore throat testing and treatment in some of the areas most heavily-affected by the disease.     This builds on last year’s scheduled roll-out of school-based swabbing services in seven high-risk regions. The $21.3 million funding programme (over four years) [...]

UPDATED 11.00 AM, MAY 3: The Government this week announced the ten areas that have been selected for special focus and additional funding as New Zealand’s National Science Challenges. The National Science Challenges are a new initiative to tackle the most important science-based issues and opportunities facing New Zealand by targeting a series of goals [...]

The European Commission has voted in favour of a two-year moratorium on the use of a pesticide known to harm bees. Neonicotinoid chemicals in pesticides have been blamed for falling bee numbers and the European Commission says they should be restricted to crops not attractive to bees and other pollinators. The Commission’s action is a [...]

A group of international scientists, including New Zealanders, have for the first time reconstructed temperatures for seven continental-scale regions for the past 2,000 years. The detailed global climate record reveals that the period from the 1970s until 2000 was the warmest in 1,400 years. “The striking feature about the sudden rise in 20th Century global [...]

An explosion at a fertiliser plant in the US is reported to have injured more than 100 people and killed an unknown number killed in the town of West in Texas. Our colleagues at the AusSMC collected the following expert commentary. Feel free to use these quotes in your reporting. If you would like to [...]

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright has launched a new report, On a pathway to extinction? An investigation into the status and management of the longfin eel. The SMC gathered reaction from experts: Dr Angus McIntosh, Professor of Freshwater Ecology, University of Canterbury, comments: “Eels are disproportionately important in New Zealand rivers because [...]

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright has launched a new report, On a pathway to extinction? An investigation into the status and management of the longfin eel. Commercial fishing of native freshwater eels is currently permitted under the quota management system, despite mounting concerns that the iconic endemic longfin eel may be headed [...]

A warming planet might not be bad news for New Zealand wine growers, according to a new study which predicts suitable grape growing land could more than double here in the next 40 years. The study, completed by Chilean and Californian researchers, found that the area of land suitable for growing grapes would change substantially [...]

Updated: The WHO in China has recorded a total of 11 confirmed cases of human infection with influenza A(H7N9),  including five deaths. The World Health Organisation notes that thus far the new H7N9 virus doesn’t appear to be passed from human to human. A FAQ on the virus is available here and the WHO updates [...]

UPDATED: Independent experts have responded to accusations that lax regulations are allowing potentially unsafe genetically modified products into  New Zealand and Australia. A recent analysis by Professor Jack Heinemann, director of the University of Canterbury’s Centre for Integrated Research in Biosafety, and colleagues, critically examined several regulatory bodies and how they assess genetically modified organisms [...]