Regulators have clarified that certain organisms derived from the parents of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) aren’t GMOs themselves - a move scientists say will help speed up local plant breeding programmes.

What are called “null segregants” are offspring of a genetically modified plant or animal, but which no longer contained any GM characteristics or material.

However, researchers and industry have treated them as GMOs - and therefore subject to the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act that tightly governs them - meaning their use in research here has long been limited.

In response to an application by more than a dozen research and industry organisations, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) today stated null segregants weren’t considered GMOs.

“This decision provides certainty for researchers in our primary industries and brings New Zealand into line with other countries in the OECD, such as Australia and the United States,” the EPA’s Dr Chris Hill said.

“This will help New Zealand scientists keep pace with international research.”

Still, the EPA said the introduction of any specific null segregant here would still have to be verified case-by-case by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

Dr Richard Scott of Crown research institute AgResearch, which led the application, said clarification also didn’t change the way GMOs themselves were used in research here.

“But what it does do is give us clarity on the use of organisms that we saw as being a grey area within the regulations,” Scott said.

"We had a clear view as researchers that these null segregants were not GMOs, but now we have certainty from the EPA to support this. The way is now cleared for researchers to consider the opportunities to use null segregants to deliver additional research and benefits to New Zealand’s productive industries and in areas such as health, nutrition and wellbeing."

That could include speed-breeding of productive plant species, or using null segregants in conventional breeding programmes to develop new varieties of locally-adapted ryegrass.

“Breeding new varieties can take more than a decade and every research tool we can utilise allows us to make more efficient advancements towards addressing fast-moving global threats to food production, such as climate change and biosecurity,” Plant and Food Research’s chief scientist Richard Newcomb said.

Some GE-free groups have opposed deregulating null segregants, arguing they still carried a risk of unintended genetic changes.

University of Canterbury Professor of Genetics Jack Heinemann said he welcomed the EPA’s insistence that null segregants must be shown to be so, “not just intended to be”.

“The credibility of its decision is dependent upon the strength of the still-to-be-developed MPI regulations to ensure that such standards are met in null segregants.”

The move comes as the new Government has promised to overhaul New Zealand’s GM laws - widely criticised by scientists as outdated - allowing for greater use of the tech here, while ensuring “strong protections for human health and the environment”.

Jamie Morton is a specialist in science and environmental reporting. He joined the Herald in 2011 and writes about everything from conservation and climate change to natural hazards and new technology.