March 30, 2000 / The Age / Jason Koutsoukis Canberra
Foreign companies are free to use Australia as a breeding ground for
genetically modified seeds for export, it was revealed yesterday.
The Federal Government has confirmed that Australian authorities have no
control over what happens to genetically modified seed once it leaves the
country and conceded that the GM seed may be planted for commercial
purposes.
The Federal Government-appointed Interim Office of the Gene Technology
Regulator said last night there was no Australian law that prohibited the
export of genetically modified produce.
"It is for the countries in receipt of these products to determine whether
they will import the produce and to require appropriate field trials of the
product in their countries if they wish," it said in a statement.
On Wednesday The Age revealed that up to half of the genetically engineered
canola seeds being grown here in authorised field trials were for US and
Canadian commercial seed production.
A spokesman for the federal Minister for Agriculture, Mr Warren Truss, said
Australia did not currently allow the sale of GM seed for domestic
commercial use, but said it did allow companies to export locally produced
GM seeds for breeding programs overseas.
"As we understand it, the canola seed is being exported to have further
trials conducted on it in Canada and the US," the spokesman said.
"That's what they asked for when they first asked to do these trials here in
Australia: permission to grow the seeds here in order to conduct further
trials in the US and Canada," he said.
"This information has been freely available on the gene regulator's website
for some time." He said that all commercial grains produced for export in
Australia were certified as being GM free by the Australian Quarantine
Inspection Service.
Two of the world's largest agricultural seed producers, the US-based
Monsanto and Aventis, have thousands of hectares of so-called "experimental"
GM canola plantations in Australia.
A spokeswoman for the gene regulator said those companies were free to
"transfer" back to the US as much GM canola seed as could be produced from
those crops.
"Australian authorities cannot do anything to stop those companies
transferring the seed within the company, and provided those companies
comply with local laws, they are free to use that seed for their own
purposes."
Australian law prohibits the sale on the open market of GM organisms not
authorised for general release by the Genetic Manipulation Advisory
Committee.
(posted without permission)
