the Sustainability Council after it investigated Government funding for GM pasture research [...] estimates up to $50 million in taxpayer funding has gone into research on GM grasses in the past decade and millions more will be needed before any new strains are commercially released. Once the new ryegrass and clover varieties are out there they will be impossible to contain - the 50 per cent of New Zealand swathed in green pasture will be vulnerable to contamination by GM grasses, the council argues.