Researchers and government officials in New Zealand are pinning their hopes on a royal commission to end their struggle over a strict law governing use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in research (see Nature 404, 914; 2000).

But the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification might not report for up to two years. During that time, says Clive Ronson, the biological safety officer at the University of Otago, “New Zealand scientists have to face retrograde legislation that is based on organisms rather than projects and undermines our competitiveness”.

Last April, government officials suspended the authority of all institutions' internal committees to license GM research. The move followed investigations by the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) of experiments that had not been approved under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act.

Researchers are now protesting at the fact that ERMA classes every modification to an organism, however minor, as a new organism, requiring a lengthy and costly application for approval (see page 13). As a result, hundreds of projects have been placed on hold, awaiting approval.

Although few have made public statements, biochemist Jon Hickford of Lincoln University near Christchurch recently told the city's daily newspaper, The Press, that ERMA had failed to explain to the public the “low risk” posed by routine modification of plasmids in bacterial strains. He said ERMA should concentrate on the larger challenges posed to the biosecurity of New Zealand's agricultural economy by animals and insects entering the country.

Bas Walker, ERMA's chief executive, responded by accusing Hickford of “trying to shoot the messenger because the message is unpalatable”.

Last week, the University of Auckland announced that it would have to devote up to NZ$1 million (US$468,000) of its NZ$15 million GMO-research funding to meeting what it calls “inappropriate requirements” imposed by the HSNO Act.

Walker revealed that, after a nationwide check by ERMA following the first breach, 27 facilities throughout New Zealand had reported 1,065 GM experiments, of which 152 had not received approval.