[Researchers] showed that Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the chief carriers of the dengue virus, resist spreading that virus if they are infected with a particular kind of bacteria. Then they tested whether these resistant mosquitoes could displace their ordinary cousins in the wild, thus reducing the number of dengue-spreading mosquitoes. [...] For the experiment, scientists released more than 140,000 resistant mosquitoes over 10 weeks in each of two isolated communities near Cairns in northeastern Australia, starting last January. By mid-April, monitoring found that resistant mosquitoes made up 90 percent to 100 percent of the wild population.

A recent Grains Research and Development Corporation maize industry visit to Japan and South Korea revealed increasing demand for non-genetically modified product. Maize Association of Australia members were told overseas millers and food manufacturers had found sourcing non-GM maize increasingly difficult. Millers were pleased with the Australian product but growers were urged to stay competitive with the US.

Australia leads the world in the understanding of the wheat genome, and Australian farmers supply 10 per cent of the global trade in wheat. Our research teams work shoulder to shoulder with the world’s best public and private partners including plant breeders, Australian farmers, food manufacturers, nutritionists, government research bodies and NGOs, both nationally and globally. Our plant scientists are unsung heroes in Australia’s history and they deserve our support. The partnership they have with our agricultural and food manufacturing community is a foundation of Australia’s competitiveness.

Greenpeace has called for a ban on all genetically engineered crop field trials in Australia, saying the science is not fully understood. While genetically modified cotton and canola have already been released commercially, there are a range of other GM plants growing in field experiments around the country including wheat, barley, bananas and sugarcane. ”We’re fine with GM research in the lab, but Greenpeace believes we just don’t know enough when it comes to genome function to support the release of a living genetically modified organism into the environment,” Greenpeace spokeswoman Laura Kelly said.

A road train carrying 22 tonnes of GM canola from the Cranbrook CBH receival site to Pinjarra caught fire after a seize in the front differential sparked a fire which melted a hole in the bottom of the lead trailer, causing canola to spill onto the road and into the gutter. The accident couldn’t have happened in a worse spot on the highway for a small group of farmers in the Williams region who have self-declared their properties GM-free. “This spill highlights the complex network of legal responsibilities that need to be unravelled and understood given the introduction of GM canola into WA, Victoria and NSW,” Safe Food Foundation director Scott Kinnear said.

MEMBERS of the Australian scientific and agricultural community are living in a climate of heightened fear due to an escalating pattern of threatening email abuse, which has emerged in recent months. And they are concerned the escalating threats could be undermining the future quality of independent, scientific research. Tensions are at fever pitch after climate change scientists, live export industry members and farm lobby groups recently received death threats, while Federal politicians are also receiving regular hate mail.

GRAIN Producers Australia chairman, Peter Mailler, is concerned that an amateur film crew with links to Greenpeace may have prejudiced legal proceedings in the Kojonup GM canola case. GM canola farmers, Mick and Zanthe Baxter, agreed to speak to the student film crew late last month, before becoming aware the director, Louise Sales, had links to Greenpeace and to the Steve Marsh Benefit Fund. Last week, Slater & Gordon law firm declared they will represent Kojonup organic farmer, Steve Marsh, in pursuit of damages against the Baxters, for loss of income following the alleged GM contamination on his neighbouring farm late last year.

[Steve Marsh, from Kojonup in WA’s Great Southern region] is suing a neighbour for negligence after genetically modified canola seed blew onto his land, causing the loss of his organic crop certification. [...] Scott Kinnear of The Safe Food Foundation said protocols for growing GM crops needed strengthening and there was a good argument for canola to be banned as a GM crop in Australia. “Canola is probably the most difficult grain to deal with from a contamination point of view,” he said.

Greens MP says farmers in the Williams area are likely to have no legal recourse if their crops were contaminated by GM canola from yesterday’s spill, unless they can prove negligence on the part of the freight carrier. [...] Janette Liddelow, whose farm is near the spill and grows non-GM canola for sale to Japan, said she was concerned about losing her contracts if any GM contamination occurred. She has called for the moratorium on GM crops to be reinstated.

Two Sydney women will face court over a Greenpeace attack on a genetically modified wheat trial in Canberra in July. Greenpeace activists allegedly used brush cutters to destroy a crop at the CSIRO experimental station at Ginninderra. The women, one aged 47 from Willoughby and the other, 34, from North Bondi, will be summonsed to appear in the ACT Magistrates Court charged with a number of offences including trespass and damaging Commonwealth property.