Genetically Modified Crop fact sheet

The Australian Government recognises there is some community concern about genetically modified (GM) crops being grown in Australia and supports the careful assessment of health and environment risks of GM crops and foods. While recognising there needs to be well informed public debate on these issues, the government supports the existing national framework for regulation
and management of GM crops and foods.

The Gene Technology Regulator: protecting people and the environment

The Gene Technology Regulator must assess and license a GM crop before it can be grown commercially in Australia. The Regulator is an independent statutory office holder who administers and enforces the Gene Technology Act 2000. The purpose of this Act is to protect the health and safety of people, and to protect the environment. The Regulator must not issue a licence for a GM crop unless satisfied that any risks can be managed to protect the health and safety of people and the environment.

Food safety and labelling

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), an independent statutory authority in the Health and Ageing portfolio, is responsible for food safety and regulation. FSANZ must assess foods produced using gene technology as safe before they can be sold. To date, FSANZ has approved over 30 GM products from selected GM varieties of soybean, corn, canola and cotton.

Australia’s requirements for GM food labelling, administered by FSANZ, are among the most comprehensive in the world. Although there are limited exceptions, for instance for meals served in restaurants and in the use of flavourings at very low concentrations, food containing DNA and/or protein resulting from genetic modification must be labelled genetically modified. Labelling enables people to make informed choices about what they eat.

The Gene Technology Ministerial Council and the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council oversee the regulation of GM organisms (including GM crops) and GM food respectively.

Allergies

Both FSANZ and the Regulator consider the allergenic potential of GM food and crops in their assessments. To date, all approved GM foods have been found to be
as safe as comparable non-GM foods.

In the future, gene technology may be used to help reduce allergy concerns with staple foods like wheat,soybeans and peanuts, and environmental allergens, such as grass pollens.

Oil from GM crops

Canola and cottonseed account for 92 per cent of Australia’s oilseed production. Both FSANZ and the Regulator have assessed the oil derived from licensed GM canola and cotton varieties to be as safe as oil derived from conventional varieties. Highly refined foods from GM crops that do not contain DNA or protein in the final food product, such as canola or cottonseed oil, are not required to be labelled as GM as they cannot be distinguished from product from non-GM sources.

Moratoriums on production of GM canola

Once a GM crop has been assessed and found to be safe for commercial release, each state and territory can decide whether or not to permit the production of that crop in part or all of its territory. After assessing two applications for GM canola, the Gene Technology Regulator concluded in 2003 that these varieties were as safe as conventional canola and issued licences for their commercial release. However, all states and territories except Queensland and the Northern Territory, enacted GM crop moratorium legislation to delay the commercial production of GM canola until marketing and trade considerations had been addressed.

Four states initiated reviews of their moratoriums in 2007. NSW and Victoria subsequently allowed the commercial production of GM canola licensed by the Regulator. South Australia decided to extend its moratorium. Tasmania’s moratorium remains in force. Western Australia lifted its moratorium on the commercial production of GM cotton in the Ord irrigation area in November 2008.

Supporting choice

The Australian grains industry believes it is possible to keep conventional and GM grains separate throughout the supply chain as identified in the Single Vision Grains
Australia report, Delivering market choice with GM canola.

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), in its 2006 report GM grains in Australia: identity preservation, suggested the cost of segregating GM canola from non-GM canola would be modest and manageable at 4 to 6 per cent of the average farmgate price.

2008 GM canola production

In Australia, GM canola was sown commercially for the first time in 2008, though plantings were restricted due to limited seed availability.

In 2008, GM canola was managed in a closed system, and processed and sold domestically. Growers planting GM canola are required by the technology provider to undertake stewardship training to enable the co-existence of GM and non-GM canola and to minimise the development of herbicide tolerant weeds.

Exports of GM canola

In a 2007 report, Market acceptance of GM canola, ABARE found that exporting countries dominating world trade in important grains and oilseeds (soybeans, corn, cottonseed and canola) have widely adopted GM varieties. While there are some niche markets that prefer certified GM free canola, world import statistics provide no evidence of widespread price premiums for non-GM canola.

In 2008, an ABARE survey of peer reviewed research conducted worldwide found that GM technology is delivering significant agronomic and environmental benefits to farmers in other countries. The review suggested that Australian grain growers could lose market share if their access to GM technology is restricted.

Organics and GM

A report released in 2007 by ABARE found that GM canola production will have little if any effect on the organic sector. This sector makes a small but increasing
contribution to Australia’s agricultural production and exports. The government has worked closely with industry representatives and other stakeholders to develop an Australian standard for organic and biodynamic products.

Global uptake of GM crops

ISAAA—the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications—has highlighted the substantial economic and environmental benefits from the first 12 years of GM crop use in both developed and developing countries. The main GM crops are maize, cotton, soybean and canola; other GM crops include carnations and papaya. In 2007, 23 countries planted over 114.3 million hectares of GM crops, an increase of 12 per cent from the level in 2006.

A GM success story: Bt cotton

Australian cotton farmers have been able to access the benefits of using GM technology since 1996, and have overwhelmingly chosen to plant GM herbicide tolerant and insect resistant varieties. Currently more than 95 per cent of Australian cotton farmers choose to grow GM varieties, accounting for over 90 per cent of production. Farmers do not grow 100 per cent GM cotton, as they must provide insect refuge areas to manage the development of insects resistant to GM cotton.

The use of insect-resistant GM cotton, instead of conventional cotton, has reduced pesticide use by around 85 per cent.

Climate Change

There is no single solution to the challenges the agricultural sector faces as a result of climate change—across geographical regions and between seasons. With promising research underway in a number of areas, GM crops may provide a piece of the jigsaw in helping farmers better adapt to climate change and mitigate its effects. Future GM crops may better tolerate drought or waterlogging. They may also be bred to respond to the broader effects of climate change such as changing pest and disease pressures. Australian plant breeders have had considerable success in the past and will continue to enhance the development and use of these new breeding technologies.

Improving the carbon balance

GM crops can contribute to the sustainability of agriculture. Use of herbicide tolerant GM crops can increase carbon sequestration in soils by encouraging conservation tillage. Growing GM crops can also reduce fuel use with less frequent pesticide applications and a reduction in the energy used in soil cultivation. In a recent report, ISAAA estimated that in 2006 the total carbon dioxide emission savings and additional soil carbon sequestration from the use of GM crops globally was equivalent to removing nearly 6.5 million cars from the road.

Further information

• DAFF Biotechnology publications:
www.daff.gov.au/agbiotech

• ABARES reports: www.abares.gov.au
Market_Choice_GM_canola.pdf

• Office of the Gene Technology Regulator:
www.ogtr.gov.au

• Gene Technology Ministerial Council:
www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/
Content/gene-gtmc.htm

• Food Standards Australia New Zealand:
www.foodstandards.gov.au

• Australia and New Zealand Food
Regulation Ministerial Council:
www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/

Content/foodsecretariat-anz.htm
• ISAAA Report on Global Status of Commercialized
Biotech/GM Crops (2007): www.isaaa.org

November 2008