Agence France Presse / April 6, 1999
WELLINGTON, April 6 (AFP) -- A small New Zealand political party Tuesday exposed a fish farm company developing genetically engineered salmon which grow faster and bigger than other salmon.
But the company, New Zealand King Salmon, denied it was doing anything wrong and said it was working to "preserve our clean, green image".
Green Party co-leader and member of parliament Jeanette Fitzsimons released documents from Communications Trumps, a public relations firm hired by King Salmon, which it said suggested keeping the trial under wraps.
Trumps warned that King Salmon's work with genetically modified salmon could easily turn into a crisis because of the strong campaign against genetic engineering.
"Whatever protest is made, we can be certain that television and other media will be extremely interested and will demand access to the facility."
The paper said the company's messages about its research and objectives must be clear, and clarify issues including safety, environmental protections and animal welfare.
"Issues such as deformities, lumps on heads etc. should not be mentioned at any point to anyone outside -- comments about those would create ghastly Frankenstein images and would be whipped up into a frenzy by Greenpeace."
King Salmon operations and contracts manager Mark Gillard said claims by the Green Party that it was an experiment gone wrong were "completely false."
He said the salmon involved in the trial looked "perfectly normal," with the only difference being that they grew faster and bigger than other salmon.
Gillard said the trial involved taking a chinook salmon gene, rearranging it and introducing it into a chinook salmon so that the fish had two of the genes, which promoted growth.
He said the company was closely monitoring the fish, which were kept in separate containers at its facility south of here.
"We're concerned about risks too. We want to preserve our clean, green image," he said.
Gillard said the experimental fish he had seen were growing fast and looked fine.
He said there was nothing secret about the firm's work, which had been known about in the scientific community and the salmon farming industry, and had been mentioned in overseas publications.
The trial, which started about four years ago, was still in its very early stages and was unlikely to be applied commercially for at least 10 years, Gillard said.
Fitzsimons said she was horrified at the extent of the secrecy surrounding the trial, and worried about risks to health and the environment.
"Because of New Zealand's lax laws on genetic engineering, the company has managed to carry on this work for several years with official knowledge and consent, but with no public hearing or debate whatsoever," she said.
She said little was known about the health risks of eating genetically-engineered salmon, and there was a danger that if they escaped into the wild they would cross-breed with wild salmon.
New Zealand King Salmon is the country's largest salmon producer, with an 80 percent share of the New Zealand industry.
It rears pacific king salmon from smolt, growing them in sea cages in the Marlborough Sounds and processing them in Nelson.
