The Federal Government says it’s extremely worried about the threat by a private company to restrict the use of a genetic test for breast cancer. The Melbourne-based company Genetic Technologies owns the patent to test for two breast cancer genes and it has told public hospitals that it will take legal action if they don’t stop conducting the test. But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is investigating whether this contravenes the law.

The Food Regulation Ministerial Council meeting in Adelaide today vowed to commission a sweeping review of food labelling after being urged by scientists to crack down on unlabelled genetically modified food. West Australian Minister for Agriculture Terry Redman said consumers should be able to make informed decisions when purchasing food ”with the ability to choose GM or non GM food based on clear and unambiguous labelling”. [...] Fifteen Australian and international scientists wrote an open letter to the ministers putting the case for further independent testing of GM food in Australia and an expansion of the labelling laws.

THE Victorian Government has rejected moves by several shires to declare themselves GM-free zones. Greater Bendigo, Yarra Ranges, South Gippsland, Moreland, East Gippsland and Bass Coast in Victoria have declared themselves GM free, in the wake of the Government lifting the ban on genetically modified canola earlier this year. [...] But a spokesman said the Government supported giving Victorian farmers choice on the crops they grew. ”This support remains,” he said.

East Gippsland Shire Council last night supported an approach to State Government for East Gippsland to be declared a zone free of Genetically Modified crops. The agreement was reached following extensive debate on a motion put by Cr Jane Rowe that Council.

The 5000-odd hectares of genetically modified (GM) canola crops planted in NSW this year following the lifting of the embargo on commercial production are reportedly performing well for the growers involved. [...] Central NSW sales manager for Pioneer Hi-Bred, John De Lyall, said grower feedback on the company’s GM canola hybrid, 46Y20, was that it was ”absolutely fantastic”. ”It’s going so well, not because it’s GM, but because it’s a hybrid.

Gene Ethics’ has released a map of Genetically Modified (GM) Roundup tolerant canola sites and GM canola depots in NSW. The map shows the GM Canola is being grown in the Cowra district and was published this month with information gleaned from media reports. ”Our map will help protect GM-free grain growers, beekeepers and harvesters from GM contamination,” says Bob Phelps, Executive Director of Gene Ethics.

Growers of genetically modified canola will need to set up buffer zones of just 5m to keep the GM crops away from regular varieties if WA follows national industry guidelines, sparking fears of contamination if the State adopts the controversial technology. As the new State Government prepares for large scale trials of GM canola, possibly by next year, critics of the technology warned yesterday contamination of non-GM crops would be inevitable if industry was allowed to ”self-regulate” segregation. Network of Concerned Farmers spokeswoman Julie Newman said that as a result, farmers would not be able to promise consumers that their crops were entirely free of GM seed.

THE food authority responsible for approving genetically modified products has been accused of pandering to agrochemical giants at the expense of consumer health, in a report set to be released today analysing the authority’s recent decisions. Food Standards Australia New Zealand is gambling with the health of consumers, the director of the University of Canterbury’s Centre for Integrated Research in Biosafety, Professor Jack Heinemann has warned, and is one of only a few regulators to have approved every application for genetically engineered food products.

The CSIRO is planning to grow genetically modified corn in Canberra in an experiment aimed at increasing resistance to antibiotics and developing a high tolerance to herbicides. Potential risks from the research including cross-pollination with non-GM crops and an increase in allergy or toxins in people have been assessed as negligible. The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator has called for public comment on the proposal, which would see 11 lines of corn grown on an area of up to 750sqm at an unnamed research facility in Canberra.

Steve Moore, Officer in Charge of the IA Watson Grains Research Centre at Narrabri [...] in September 2008 checking the outstanding new field pea variety Maki. ”With the release of more adaptable high yielding and improved disease resistant varieties, field peas could easily become a 50,000 ha crop in central and northern New South Wales and the southern Queensland cropping zone. Maki [...], the latest release from the region, is a giant step forward for field peas and increases the reliability and performance of the crop in a big way”.