Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Genetically Modified Organisms) Amendment Bill and the Medicines (Restricted Biotechni…

  • Marian Hobbs
Environment

Mr Speaker, I move that the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Genetically Modified Organisms) Amendment Bill and the Medicines (Restricted Biotechnical Procedures) Amendment Bill be now read a third time.

Mr Speaker, the passing of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Genetically Modified Organisms) Amendment Bill into law will implement one of the key government decisions in response to the report of the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification.

HSNO Amendment Bill
For those of you familiar with the Royal Commission’s report, you will know it concluded that the basic regulatory framework for managing genetic modification technology is appropriate, and the key institutions do carry out their functions conscientiously and soundly. The Royal Commission made suggestions for change, most of which the government has decided to implement as part of the strategy of “preserving opportunities while proceeding with caution”.

The government decided that while changes are made to the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act and while other work recommended by the Royal Commission is underway, there should be no releases of genetically modified organisms into the New Zealand environment. That is why one of the purposes of this bill is to put in place a two year restriction on the consideration and approval of applications for the release of genetically modified organisms, with exceptions for human medicines, animal remedies and the emergency provisions of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act.

We wanted time to do the work, rather than rely on a ministerial call-in. Some parties saw this as an opportunity to vote for a permanent or prolonged moratorium. The Government has chosen to focus on the work-to-do and has set a timeline – rather than revisit the advice of the Royal Commission by another method.

The bill also ensures that strict containment is applied in every case where research involves field testing of genetically modified organisms. This is because the government has come to the view that the various conditions that the Environmental Risk Management Authority has chosen to place on field tests in the past should continue to be placed on field tests in the future. From now on, because the law requires it, those discretionary conditions, will be mandatory.

Medicines Amendment Bill
The Medicines (Restricted Biotechnical Procedures) Amendment Bill puts constraints on certain biotechnical procedures, involving humans, until a framework has been developed for evaluating their potential risks to public health and safety, and for addressing their unique ethical issues. The procedures in question are germ-cell genetic procedures, cloning for reproductive purposes, and clinical xenotransplantation in respect of human beings.

The new provisions recommended for the Medicines Act have the following purposes:

·Defining the procedures to be regulated.
·Establish criteria, which must be satisfied before the Minister of Health can approve any application to carry out one of these procedures.
·Providing the process the Minister must follow to obtain the necessary advice.

The criteria that must be met before any of these biotechnical procedures can take place refer to public health and safety, the management of risk and the ethical, cultural and spiritual issues surrounding the procedure or class of procedure. They follow very closely the recommendations of the Royal Commission, when the Commission was referring to the assessment of environmental risks.

Work Underway
We are making good progress on the work recommended by the Royal Commission during the two year restricted period on applications for release of genetically modified organisms. I note just four examples:

·I recently announced funding of $1.5 million to set up and operate Toi Te Taiao: The Bioethics Council. The process of establishing the Council is well underway. The Council will be up and running this year, at least twelve months before the end of the restricted period.

·An $800,000 tender is being let by the Foundation for Research, Science & Technology. Further work is being done to investigate how Vote Research, Science & Technology can fulfil the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification.

·Officials will be reporting to government in early 2003 on the results of projects examining the economic risks and opportunities of the release of genetically modified organisms.

·Work to amend the existing regulations to streamline the processes for low risk organisms, in line with the Royal Commission recommendations, will be complete by the end of this month – right on target.

Conclusion
I would like to thank the members of the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee, in particular the Chair of that Committee, for the work they have done clarifying aspects of the bill as introduced. The Committee undertook a thorough consideration of these complex and technical matters.

Mr Speaker, the Medicines (Restricted Biotechnical Procedures) Amendment Bill temporarily restricts specific biotechnical procedures until a framework has been developed to ensure the potential risks to public health and safety, and the unique ethical issues these procedures raise, are properly considered.

Mr Speaker, the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Genetically Modified Organisms) Amendment Bill is a key element in the government’s comprehensive response to the report of the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification. More importantly it is a key part of implementing the approach recommended by the Royal Commission. That is an approach of preserving opportunities while proceeding with caution.