NEWS: GM Crops: Pressure mounts on West Australian govt to lift ban on GM cotton
The West Australian
Jodie Thomson
Monday, March 12, 2007
Excerpt...
The State Government is expected to come under renewed pressure to lift its ban on genetically modified cotton crops after a committee appointed by Agriculture Minister Kim Chance found that the crop could expand agriculture in the north of the State.
A draft report says a GM cotton industry would be financially robust, create more than 120 direct full-time jobs and 100 from flow-on effects from 9000ha of crops.
It pointed to NSW and Queensland, which allow GM cotton to be grown commercially.
But the release of the paper, due to have been received yesterday, has been delayed a month, prompting criticism that it will further frustrate expansion plans on the Ord River, including the vital Ord Stage 2 project.
Mr Chance, who met the committee yesterday, said there were significant advantages to GM cotton — it was an ideal crop to rotate with sugar and brought a new base crop to the region. The trials over the past decade also showed that crop yields were strong.
“I believe GM cotton is a crop of the future for the valley, but like any new crop you need to understand the upsides and the downsides before you make a decision that it is going to be a goer,” he said. “The downsides are essentially about the crop being cotton, not about the crop being GM cotton. For example, while the GM crop uses less pesticides than conventional cotton, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t use any pesticides.”
He said the discussion paper would provide information to the Government but not make a recommendation on policy.
Ian Edwards, chairman of biotechnology industry body AusBiotech and a reference group member, said Mr Chance was using the group and public consultation period as a stalling tactic.
“GM cotton has now been grown for 11 years commercially in Australia, side-by-side with non-GM wheat in NSW and Queensland,” Dr Edwards said. “There is simply no rational excuse for not approving GM cotton in the Ord....”
Read full article at The West Australian.
