Wednesday, June 08, 2011 by: Neev M. Arnell
(NaturalNews) Australia's first trial of genetically modified wheat and barley is under way near Narrabri, New South Wales in the south-eastern area of the country. The goal of the GM wheat is said to be more nutritious bread (http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/gm-wheat-...).
How exactly the genes were altered to create this alleged more nutritious bread remains a secret. All that is known is that 14 different strains of wheat and barley will be grown. Some strains will allow researchers to look at enriching the crops with extra nutrients, and others will look at using nitrogen in the soil more efficiently, which could mean higher productivity with less fertilizer.
The CSIRO, which is running the three-year experiment, said the gene combinations in the trial are secret because they are subject to commercial-in-confidence agreements that protect the interests of the government research agencies involved and a U.S. company, Arcadia Biosciences.
Environmental groups and organic farmers oppose the GM trial, arguing that it is quite possible, and even likely, for the GM wheat and barley to mix with natural strains and 'contaminate' some of Australia's wheat crop with the genetic modification.
Environmental group Greenpeace opposes the trial, furthermore, because the safety of the modified crops for human and animal consumption has not been tested in any scientific trials.
The CSIRO says it will follow the safety requirements of the license issued by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator.
"The risk assessment concluded that this proposed limited and controlled release ... poses negligible risks to the health and safety of people or the environment as a result of gene technology," the gene technology regulator said.
Certain safety measures will also be taken, according to Dr. Matthew Morell, a researcher with the CSIRO's Future Food division.
"[The GM crops] will be separated from other crops by 200 meters, and wheat pollen travels about one meter, so it is highly unlike any will be found beyond that,' Morell said. 'Because these are patented technologies, there is still a need for restricting the details in terms of protecting commercial information."
Greenpeace is not buying it, saying that GM trail crops can easily break containment through human error, as past cases show. In one instance, seeds from a GM canola crop in NSW appear to have spilled from trucks driving down roads near an experimental farm, spreading the seeds and potentially contaminating organic farms.
"The Australian government's decision to go ahead with GM wheat field trials," said Greenpeace spokeswoman Laura Kelly, "amounts to a covert decision taken on behalf of Australia's wheat farmers, consumers and export markets that Australian wheat will be GM."
Sources for this story include:
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/gm-wheat-...
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
GM WHEAT TRIAL BEGINS AMID SECRECY
Ben Cubby May 28, 2011
AUSTRALIA'S first trial of genetically modified wheat and barley has begun near Narrabri in NSW, with the ultimate goal of producing more nutritious bread.
But details of how exactly the genes were altered remain secret. The CSIRO, which is running the three-year experiment, said the various gene combinations in the trial were subject to commercial-in-confidence agreements to protect the interests of various government research agencies and a US company, Arcadia Biosciences.
The trial has been criticised by environment groups and some organic farmers, who say there is no known way to stop the altered wheat and barley from mixing with natural strains and ''contaminating'' a swathe of Australia's wheat crop.
The CSIRO says it will follow the safety requirements set down in a licence issued by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator. ''They will be separated from other crops by 200 metres, and wheat pollen travels about one metre, so it is highly unlike any will be found beyond that,'' said Matthew Morell, a researcher with the CSIRO's Future Food division. ''Because these are patented technologies, there is still a need for restricting the details in terms of protecting commercial information.''
Fourteen separate strains of wheat and barley will be grown. Some will test the viability of enriching the crops with extra nutrients, and others will focus on using nitrogen from the soil more efficiently, which would in theory lead to higher productivity without requiring more fertiliser.
''We have done testing in greenhouses on these crops before but we also need to see how they react in the field, with the presence of other plants,'' Dr Morell said. ''At the end of the process we should have two or three years of data, and we can make an assessment about it.''
The licence says the risk of the genetically modified crops escaping their containment is very low. ''The risk assessment concluded that this proposed limited and controlled release … poses negligible risks to the health and safety of people or the environment as a result of gene technology,'' the gene technology regulator said.
However, the environment group Greenpeace opposes the trial, on the basis that there have been no laboratory trials on the safety of the modified crops for human or animal consumption.
It says genetically modified trial crops have usually broken their containment lines as a result of human error. In the case of a modified canola crop in southern NSW, seeds appear to have spilled from trucks driving down roads near an experimental farm. This spread the canola and potentially exposed government agencies to legal action from farmers who market their products as organic.
A Greenpeace spokeswoman, Laura Kelly, said: ''The Australian government's decision to go ahead with GM wheat field trials amounts to a covert decision taken on behalf of Australia's wheat farmers, consumers and export markets that Australian wheat will be GM.''
An organic farming group, The Biological Farmers of Australia, said the trial should not proceed without safety tests first.
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/gm-wheat-trial-begins-amid-secrecy-20110527-1f8hl.html
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