On 11 September 2012, the Science Media Centre published response comments (by Prof. Rick Roush, Assoc. Prof. Peter Dearden, Prof. Peter Langridge and Dr. Ian Edwards) in reply to expert scientific opinions about the safety of GM wheat varieties that have been developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation of Australia. [...] After reviewing the response comments, ENSSER is disappointed by the Science Media Centre's decision to post personal attacks by the commentators on the authors of the original reports, rather than engage in a scientific debate that might have been useful to journalists, its stated audience.

Bollgard III stacks the Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab present in Bollgard II with the Vip3A protein, discovered by Syngenta – reportedly in milk soured in a research lab fridge – and licenced to Monsanto. When Cry1Ac was released, there was about 1:1,000,000 chance it would be eaten by a heliothis with a background resistance to the protein. With Cry2Ab, the odds shortened to 1:100, but the two proteins work in concert in Bollgard II. Now Australian scientists have found the odds of background heliothis resistance to Vip3A is 2:100 or 3:100 – ”and once they are resistant, they are highly resistant”, Mr Parkes [chairman of the Transgenic and Insecticide Management Strategies Committee] said.

University of Melbourne Professor Rick Roush said the claims about the CSIRO starch-modified wheat were “highly speculative.” “They have been advanced by three anti-GM campaigners who have deliberatley bypassed independent scientific assessment of their claims,” Prof Roush said. “Instead, this has been launched such that it will become another scientific-souding scare story in cyberspace, a well-worn path of anti-GM so-called “science” by press release.” [...] Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics Professor Peter Langridge said the information from Safe Food was “not helping an informed discussion about the technology.” “Essentially we have two scientists who appear to be ideologically opposed to GM crops and who studiously ignore the majority of the scientific literature and data,” Prof Langridge said.

In his report on GM wheat that is expected to be released today, New Zealand genetics lecturer Jack Heinemann, from the University of Canterbury, said the CSIRO's technology suppressed an enzyme in the wheat which was similar to the human enzyme that produces glycogen. [...] The CSIRO yesterday revealed it had received approval from the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator for two field trials of wheat and barley with altered starch composition. The latest crop had been planted in the ACT in June.

Two women who broke into CSIRO and destroyed a research crop of genetically-modified wheat with whipper-snippers have cost Greenpeace more than $280,000, a court has heard. And the ACT Supreme Court heard the women should be given a jail sentence for the publicity stunt in July last year. NSW women Jessa Latona, 35, and Heather McCabe, 48, pleaded guilty to one charge of damaging or destroying Commonwealth property. Latona and McCabe, both volunteers with the conservation group Greenpeace, scaled fences to break into a CSIRO farm at Ginninderra on July 14 last year.

“Chickpea is a salt-sensitive crop species, so improvement in its salt tolerance is a priority. The present research has highlighted that a previously widely-grown cultivar in WA (Rupali) is particularly salt sensitive.” [...] Winthrop Professor Kadambot Siddique, Director of UWA’s Institute of Agriculture and Co-Chief Investigator of the project, said genotypes with greater salt tolerance were identified and had been used as parents in the breeding program in WA and India.

Australia’s system of organic certification will come under intense scrutiny when two neighbouring farmers do battle in the Western Australian Supreme Court in a test case on genetically modified crop contamination. Organic farmer Steve Marsh, from Kojonup in the state’s Great Southern region, is suing his neighbour Michael Baxter for alleged negligence and nuisance. Mr Marsh claims genetically modified canola seed blew onto his farm in 2010, causing him to lose his organic status. He says he is prepared to risk his 480-hectare property to defend his right to farm without interference. “It’s totally about freedom of choice,” Mr Marsh said. “The GM proponents, they’ve argued for their rights to grow and use GM, this tool in the toolbox.

More than 75 per cent of Australians support a ban on junk food advertising during children's television programs, according to a new poll by the Australian National University. [...] When it comes to genetically modified foods, nearly half of those surveyed consider them to be safe to eat, but more than half said it was unlikely they would buy foods labelled as GM. "Ten years ago people were very concerned about genetically modified foods and most people would answer in surveys like this that they didn't think they were safe," Professor Lockie said.

The Safe Food Foundation has welcomed a court agreement designed to better protect a Western Australian Great Southern organic farm from contamination by genetically modified crops. Kojonup farmer Steve Marsh is suing his neighbour and seeking a ban of GM canola crops within 2.5 kilometres of his property. Mr Marsh says his property was contaminated by GM canola in 2010. He and his neighbour have agreed to temporarily keep a 1.1 kilometre GM-free buffer zone around Mr Marsh’s property. The foundation’s Scott Kinnear says the agreement sets a strong precedent.

Trials of genetically modified canola have found the controversial technology isn’t always meeting promises of higher yields. The Birchip Cropping Group in western Victoria trialled 27 varieties of the oilseed, including conventional, triazine-tolerant and GM canola. It found little differences in yield between the conventional and round-up ready GM varieties. For the highest-yielding types, GM canola had the lowest gross margin, while triazine-tolerant had the highest. Roundup Ready had a lower margin because of higher freight and seed costs.