Biotechnology

Greenpeace has been running a kept Australia GE free campaign for some time. The campaign should have got a boost over the last couple of weeks with findings of minuscule, but detectable quantities, of GM material in Australian canola. The material was first found in Victoria and more recently in WA. For some background on the origin of the GM material see a previous blog post here at https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/000741.html .

Greenpeace campaigner Jeremy Tager is claiming,

This is the most serious genetic contamination event that Australia has ever faced, … and the response from State Governments in the coming days will determine their commitment to upholding Australia’s GE free status.

But the reality is that while Greenpeace through their campaigning managed to get state governments to ban the commercial planting of GM canola in Australia, we are importing and eating a range of GM foods from overseas including canola – and of course there is the vegetable oil from locally grown GM cotton (cotton seed oil).

On Sunday Robyn Williams (ABC Radio, Ockham’s Razor) interviewed Craig Cormick from Biotechnology Australia who had the following comments,

According to the supermarket chains, although they are often on the receiving end of anti-GM campaigns about their foods, there has been little to no diminution in sales of those foods that are labelled as containing GM ingredients.

Could this be put down to consumers simply not being able to find the fact that the food has a GM ingredient on the label? Perhaps. But at the deli counter in Woolworth’s, all across Australia, there are usually two or three types of sliced chicken loaf that is clearly labelled ‘contains genetically modified soy’ on a plastic label, standing up by the meat. It is clear and prominent, and I make it a habit of always asking the person in the deli, wherever I travel, whether anybody comments or complains about the GM ingredients. Invariably I’m met with a blank look and the response that nobody seems fussed about it.

The complete transcript is here http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ockham/stories/s1430804.htm .

I reckon Greenpeace really needs a new campaign.

Traces of a GM material known as Topas 19/2 were have been found in Victorian canola ready for export.

GM canola was approved by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator in Canberra sometime ago for commercial production in Australia. However, bans on GM food crops introduced by State Governments have prevented the legal commercial production of GM canola. GM canola is grown overseas including in Canada, the US and Argentina.

It is unclear how the Australian canola became contaminated.

Bayer has field trials of GM canola in Victoria. However, the Topas 19/2 is apparently not consistent with the GM material in the canola being grown in trials by Bayer in Australia at the moment – though was in trials grown prior to 1998.

While investigations continue, perhaps the more likely explanation is that the contamination is from an Australian breeding program. There are apparently a number of different companies that breed and sell canola seed in Australia – but not Bayer (because state governments have banned their GM product). Anyway these breeding program exchange material with overseas companies and it is possible that in an exchange of germplasm the impurity/the Topas 19/2 was introduced.

Topas 19/2 includes a gene from a soil bacteria that confers herbicide resistance. The same gene, known as the pat gene has been used as a marker in a wide range of research in a variety of crops around the world. The pat gene is a Bayer creation.

According to Greenpeace Campaigner Jeremy Tager, Bayer should take responsibility for the organism it created. Do you reckon we should get Jeremy’s Mum to take more responsibility for the campaigns he runs?

Bayer media release: http://www.bayercropscience.com.au/news/index.asp?id=20050714GMTraces3

Greenpeace media release:
http://www.greenpeace.org.au/media/ge_canola_details.php?site_id=55&news_id=1728

ABC online:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200507/s1416183.htm

Some months ago grain and oilseed growers from West Australia, dried fruit, dairy, grain and beef producers from Victoria, and cotton, grain, cattle, sheep and oilseed growers from New South Wales and Queensland got together in Canberra to talk about GM issues.

They formed a network with the following vision and aim:

Our vision is “To ensure timely access to agricultural biotechnologies for the economic, social and environmental benefit of all Australians”.

Our aim is “To promote informed discussion and decision making on agricultural biotechnology between rural and metropolitan communities and decision makers, for the benefit of all Australians, to ensure rural viability, environmental sustainability, and consumer and producer choice”.

They can be contacted at info@producersforum.net.au .

A founding member has written:

We are driven by frustration at the attitude towards GM crops of some of the major commodity companies and State Governments in Australia, and feel that Australia is missing out on possibly the most beneficial technical advance the world has ever seen. Australian farmers have stayed viable by being at the forefront of technology adoption on a very uneven global playing field, and we are now being forced to abstain from possibly the most important technology in our lifetime.

Africa is in the news. I lived in Madagascar and then Kenya from 1985 through to 1992.

Here I am in in the far south-west of Madagascar in about 1986,
Jen stopping for lunch.

This was one way of getting about in Madagascar in the mid 1980s,
by taxi brouse.

Taxibrouses would run the more common form of transport off the road,
the bullock cart .

I read about the planned Live 8 Concerts for Africa last week and I was sceptical. I thought of the proverb, “Give me a fish and I eat or a day. Teach me to fish and I eat for a life time”.

“Forgiving debt, or giving money, is not going to do much more than reward bad management,” were my thoughts.

Others had similar concerns. According to ABC Online,

“Some aid workers and Africans worry that the Live 8 initiatives will only serve to bolster corrupt regimes while scepticism persists that rock stars can change anything.
“I don’t believe it will do any good,” said 18-year-old Nir Livneh in the London crowd. “It won’t stop poverty in Africa.”
In Johannesburg, most of those interviewed among the crowd of 10,000 had never even heard of Geldof but Edward Romoki, yelling over a booming hip-hop act, said: “Maybe a concert like this can put Africa in the news and change things.””

How might putting Africa in the news change things?

I read today that Bob Geldof asked for more than just debit relief, he is asking for three things:
1. Action to wipe out Africa’s debt,
2. Double aid, and
3. The scrapping of trade barriers.

According to theSydney Morning Herald one million people attended the 10 free concerts in Europe, North America, South Africa and Japan, while an estimated 3 billion watched on television.

Bob Geldof, brought the computer billionaire Bill Gates to the Hyde Park stage, introducing him to the crowd of 200,000 as “the greatest philanthropist of our age”, who had given away $US5 billion.

Gates believes in technology including biotechnology (GM food crops). He believes in not only teaching people ‘how to fish’ (remembering the proverb) but also in providing them with the best technology. Towards this end he is supporting the work of a woman I once met, and admire immensely, Florence Wambugu. And you can find more about Florence at
http://whybiotech.ca/canada-english.asp?id=3603 .

Some of the projects supported by her group and that will be given a kick-along by the funding from Bill Gates can be found at
http://www.ahbfi.org/msv.htm .

It is not every day that I agree with the Hon Warren Truss MP but today’s media release from him is a beauty:

Australian Agriculture Minister Warren Truss today called on State and Territory governments to end their moratoria on the cultivation of GM crops if they are at all serious about making their jurisdictions investment centres for biotechnology.

Mr Truss said that all the States, and the ACT, had sent delegations to the BIO 2005 conference in Philadelphia in the United States this week – looking to attract investment in their respective biotechnology sectors.

“How can the States and Territories hope to attract any investment while they keep their moratoria on GM crop cultivation in place?” he said.

“You also have to question the credibility of Victoria hosting next year’s Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference while maintaining a moratorium on the commercial use of agricultural biotechnology.”

Mr Truss said that, since 2003, the Australian Government had invested around $1.29 billion in biotechnology-related R&D.

“But the State’s moratoria mean that only the cotton and cut-flower industries can take advantage of the latest developments in GM crop breeding,” he said.

“The real losers are Australian farmers, who are quickly falling behind their major competitors as they are denied the benefits of new technologies.

“How much longer can Australian farmers match overseas competitors if unscientific State bans on genetically-modified organisms (GMO) deny them access to higher-yielding, pest and disease resistant, drought-tolerant plant varieties?

“These bans are usually based on claims that being GMO free will deliver marketing advantages for Australian products.

“How many more years do we have to wait for the so-called ‘market advantage’ to eventuate?

“Australia must continue to evaluate new GMO varieties in a sound scientific way to help build consumer confidence in the safety and benefits of these products. Agricultural biotechnology in Australia will go no where unless State-imposed bans on GMOs are lifted.

“If a particular State government wants a future as a centre for biotechnology, it must do more than offer support for the related research and declare itself a ‘bio-hub’.

“That government must allow that research to be commercialised and used by Australian farmers,” Mr Truss said.

This is Part 5 of my series on GM Food Crops. Part 4 was posted on 20th June and can be found at https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/000681.html while Part 3 was posted on 14th and can be found at https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/000662.html .