Australia GM crop field trials vital - farm lobby
Date: 17-Aug-01
Country: AUSTRALIA
They played an important role in environmental and health risk assessments, Paula Fitzgerald, executive manager of Agrifood Awareness Australia, told a Victorian Farmers Federation meeting yesterday.
Fitzgerald was speaking after several groups, particularly local government councils, in recent months opposed field trials until GM crops underwent further evaluation.
This would in effect block commercial development of GM crops, he said.
Fitzgerald's comments came as Australia's big farm sector mulls whether to grow GM food crops after consumers, especially in Europe, have generally rejected them.
The Australian farm sector favours yield increases offered by GM crops but fears a consumer backlash. Farm bodies generally favour the introduction of GM crops, but are opposed by a variety of activists and faced by a cautious consumer movement.
No GM food crops are presently grown, although a variety of GM cotton is in commercial production.
Australia's first GM food crop is expected to be canola, beginning in 2002/03.
Fitzgerald said yesterday that it took eight to 13 years for a GM product to progress from an idea to commercial reality.
"After several years in the laboratory and glasshouse, the first field trial is often only the size of an average suburban backyard," she said.
The product then underwent further trials in closer to true paddock size fields.
"Field trials are necessary to ensure the crop poses no unmanageable risks and to assess the crop under Australian environmental conditions," she said. "The trials also allow the developer to select the best varieties to commercialise."
For crops such as canola, buffer zones surround the field trial to minimise pollen transfer from the GM crop, she said.
Agrifood Awareness is backed by the National Farmers' Federation and other leading farm bodies. It has the stated aim of encouraging informed debate about gene technology.