Australia is one of a few countries to shun the UN Protocol on Biosafety that most countries will adopt in Nagoya, Japan, next week. The protocol is a global quarantine and customs treaty to protect the environment and human health from genetically manipulated organisms. [...] “As a party to the CBD, Australia ought to join the protocol and cooperate with the 160 other countries that are already members,” says Gene Ethics Director, Bob Phelps.

If you're looking for a topical issue that polarises opinion, you can't go past genetic modification. [...] The debate is highly charged, to say the least, and environmental groups, such as Greenpeace, frequently find themselves pitted against not only the big seed companies, like Monsanto, but scientists from organisations such as the CSIRO.

THE Singaporean boss of fast-growing global agricultural commodities trader, Olam International, says his company won't buy genetically modified crops, but he thinks they are an inevitable "must" to feed a hungry planet. [...] "In time we will see that GMs are the lesser of two evils and the world will embrace this technology to lift agricultural production rather than opt to go hungry," he said.

NEW varieties of Roundup Ready canola have yields comparable to the best conventional varieties, according to Monsanto. [...] Monsanto Australia canola business leader Tony May said the Kerang trial site had been one of the higher yielding sites since Roundup Ready varieties were included in 2008.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that tests of one of the most popular baby formulas on the market - S-26 Soy - show it contains genetically altered ingredients. Authorities say the product, made by the Pfizer-owned company Wyeth Nutrition, is safe to sell without labels revealing its GM levels, despite an absence of research on their long-term effects on infants.

In a third attack on Australia’s food security, the most powerful chemical company in the world has made a stealthy grab for ownership of Australia’s most important seed - our wheat. The world’s biggest owner of genetically engineered crops - Monsanto - recently bought a 20 per cent stake in one of Australia’s largest wheat breeding companies, Intergrain. [...] This recent strategic buyout signals a leap in the corporate domination of Australia’s food supply.

GRAIN growers Tim and Julia Hausler have a simple reason for growing genetically modified canola - it saves them money. "If the benefits were not there or if it was costing us money we would not be doing it," Tim said. This season the couple has sown 60ha of conventional canola and 200ha of Roundup Ready canola on their 2500ha property near Warracknabeal.

The Centre for Plant Functional Genomics [...] wildly claims that genetically manipulated rice ‘offers hope for the global food supply’. ”Without an application to the regulator, this research can only test an idea in the most basic way and is decades away from any commercial application,” says Gene Ethics director Bob Phelps.

A team of scientists at the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics has successfully used genetic modification to improve the salt tolerance of rice, offering hope for improved rice production around the world. [...] "Rice is the staple food for billions of people around the world," says Dr Darren Plett, lead author and Research Associate with the ACPFG, a key partner of the Waite Research Institute at the University of Adelaide.

Independent senator Nick Xenophon and Greens senator Rachel Siewert have lent their support to the Greenpeace campaign against unlabelled GM food content, saying they will introduce a joint bill tightening Australia’s food labelling laws. The two senators joined a group of protesting mothers, and Professor Peter Collignon, Director of the Infectious Diseases Unit and Microbiology Department at Canberra Hospital, to denounce the presence of unlabelled genetically modified foods on Australia’s shelves.