The Columban Missionaries say the biotech industry which promotes GM food as a solution to global hunger is trying to get GM food crops into Australia. In a statement for World Food Day today, the Sydney-based Columban Centre for Peace, Ecology and Justice warns there is strong pressure on State Governments to lift moratoria which were placed in 2003/04 on the growing of GM crops. [...] The Columban Centre for Peace Ecology and Justice on World Food Day 2007 calls on the Australian State Governments to continue the GM Food Moratoria till 2015

A Japanese delegation is in Australia to deliver a petition to State Premiers from groups who represent over 2.9 million Japanese consumers, requesting an extension to the moratoria on GM food crops. The States are currently reviewing the moratoria, which are due to expire next year, and are facing growing pressure from farm and science leaders to drop the ban on genetically modified crops. But the Japanese delegation from the ’No! GMO Campaign’, an alliance of over 80 Japanese consumer groups, farmers groups and 300 individuals, says lifting the moratoria would damage Australia’s reputation in the international market.

A WORLD in which foods are produced after being genetically modified to achieve specific benefits has already arrived, on a limited scale, but there are no moves within the Australian wine industry to apply this technology commercially. Scientists have already grown Australia’s first GM grapevine, in secure laboratory conditions, and research continues to fully understand how to produce the exact grapes that winemakers want.

Farmers overwhelmingly want ethanol mandated in Australian fuel, according to a Rural Press survey, but more than half don’t think genetically modified grain crops should be grown here. [...] And even though more than 30pc of farmers in this survey also produce crops, more than 52pc of farmers don't think GM crops should be grown in Australia. Only 27.6pc of farmers want to see GM grain crops introduced into Australia, while 20.4pc are not sure.

Australia should embrace genetically modified (GM) food and biofuels as a weapon against climate change, Queensland Primary Industries Minister Tim Mulherin says. [...] ”The Queensland government supports the pursuit of gene technology and GM crops,” Mr Mulherin said. GM agriculture would give the state’s economy a boost, as well as deliver environmental advantages, he said. ”One of the strongest weapons in the artillery to adapt to climate change is genetic modification,” Mr Mulherin said, adding that technology could be used to develop drought-resistant crops, plants that were less reliant on pesticides and herbicides, improve water efficiency, boost yields and add nutritional value.

Genetically-modified glowing fish are one step closer to being offered for sale in Australia to would-be pet owners looking for something a little different for their fish tank. A United States-based biotechnology company applied earlier this year to the Gene Technology Regulator for permission to import and sell the so-called GloFish. The zebra fish have been modified to include a fluorescent protein gene that comes from reef coral. The gene makes the fish absorb light and then release it, so they appear to glow either red, green or yellow.

THREE Government MPs have publicly disparaged any easing of Victoria’s ban on the commercial planting of genetically modified canola crops, setting them at odds with Premier John Brumby and other senior Labor ministers.The MPs’ feelings on the controversial issue are laid bare in their submissions to a review panel which is considering whether to permit GM canola farming in Victoria.Mr Brumby, a supporter of GM technology, has confirmed he will stick with former Premier Steve Bracks’ position of not allowing a conscience vote of Labor MPs on the contentious issue.

THE NEW South Wales (NSW) Government must seize the opportunities gene technology poses for Australia’s agricultural production base – both in terms of better and more drought-resistant crops, and our long-term economic efficiency and competitiveness on the world stage. The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) says NSW farmers have been ’left behind’ by an international marketplace that has already embraced GM as a safe and viable science. Australian farmers are now being ’held back’ from cutting-edge farm techniques, based on out-dated hysteria.

WA’s first broad-scale field trial of genetically modified canola has been placed on hold after becoming entangled in a political battle between the State Government and the seed companies which own the technology. State Agriculture Minister Kim Chance advised his Ministerial GM Reference Group meeting last Friday that the GM trials, scheduled for Esperance next year, were now in grave danger of not going ahead. Mr Chance confirmed that the South East Premium Wheat Growers Association (SEPWA), which he approved to conduct the trials, has hit a brick wall in its attempts to source GM seed from Monsanto and Bayer, the companies who own the plant breeding rights to the controversial technology.

Agriculture and Food Minister Kim Chance this week introduced legislation into the Western Australian Parliament designed to further protect the State’s moratorium on the growing of Genetically Modified (GM) crops. The Seeds Amendment Bill 2007 will allow the Minister to declare GM seed to be ’prohibited seed’. ”Under the proposed changes, it will be an offence to import, sell or be in possession of prohibited seed in WA for the purposes of cultivation,” Mr Chance said.