REX - Regional Express

industryfocus Fast Fact The key difference between GM and conventional plant breeding is GM can transfer genes between species. Traditional breeding occurs within the same species; e.g. breeding a more attractive tomato by cross-pollinating the best tomato varieties. Previous page, and below: A canola crop; CSIRO Plant Industry's Dr TJ Higgins and Stephanie Gollasch with cowpeas. 70 on the commercial cultivation of GM crops, with policymakers indicating their clean and green image gives them a competitive edge in the food market. Naturally, the organics industry won't go near GM. Dr Judy Carman, an associate professor at Flinders University and a director of the Institute of Health and Environmental Research, warns that the testing of GM products is not thorough enough to ensure they are safe to eat: "My concern is that GM foods have not been properly and fully safety assessed before they reach the supermarket shelves." She explains that GMO testing is inadequate in four main areas: assessment for allergies; long-term toxicology studies on animals that are similar to humans; cancer studies; and reproductive outcome testing. "If you speak to someone from the GM industry or research sector, they will say there have been hundreds of animal studies done on GM crops. But most of these have not looked at health outcomes that are relevant to people. Often, all they look for is death, and if the animal doesn't die, then it's considered healthy," Dr Carman says. Labelling is another issue. According to an ANU poll, 96 per cent of Australians want GM foods labelled. "Our food regulator says refined products that come from GM crops, such as oil, starches and sugars, don't need to be labelled because there is no DNA or protein left in them, however, the scientific literature says the regulator is wrong. These products should be labelled," Dr Carman argues. "They also say that if you feed GM crops to animals, the products – meat, milk, eggs and cheese – don't need to be labelled because the DNA and protein from the GM crop doesn't survive digestion in the animal and therefore doesn't go into the milk, meat, eggs or cheese. They are wrong," she adds. Bob Phelps, of Gene Ethics, says GM agriculture is not better for farmers in the long run. "Extensive evidence in Australia and the US shows that GM crops yield no more than the best conventional varieties of soybean, corn, canola, cotton and sugar beet, so [GM foods] cannot 'feed the world', as the GM industry claims," he says. "There is no global food shortage, but food is now a global trade commodity that goes where it is most profitable, not where it is most needed." Dr TJ Higgins, an honorary fellow at CSIRO Plant Industry who has spent the past decade developing cowpeas with inbuilt insect resistance, believes GM research has proven to be very useful. "There is absolutely a need for GM research," he says. "Plant breeding needs continual improvement to support agriculture and food production in the future." Cowpea is an important source of protein in sub-Saharan Africa, where farmers often can't afford insecticides and, in a bad year, insect pests can damage 50 to 90 per cent of their cowpea crop, says Higgins. "The GM insect-resistant cowpeas I'm working on could allow farmers to harvest two to three times what they would normally get, which means they may be able to sell some of the extra grain they produce and send their kids to school. "Science can make food production more efficient so farmers can reduce their input costs and remain viable. GM is just one of a set of tools that should be available to Australian agriculture. It won't be an exclusive one, but we should have access where we need it." To quote William Shakespeare, perhaps "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so"?

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