Keep Australia GM Free
In 2002, the Commonwealth Office of Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) gave Bayer and Monsanto licences to sell commercial GM canola seed throughout Australia. The licensed varieties are herbicide tolerant so the canola crop would be sprayed more often and at higher doses with toxic weed killer. They also contain foreign genes and proteins, never in the food supply before.
State governments agreed with widespread warnings that GM canola would adversely impact markets and trade in Australian food products. They used their reserve powers under national laws to protect the economy by banning commercial GM canola for five years and keeping their states GM-free.
The marketers of wheat, barley and milk products were among the many food businesses that added their voice to the effective public protest.
The state bans on GM canola are now being reviewed. Bayer, Monsanto and the US government formed an agribusiness coalition to overturn the bans. They would begin selling GM canola seed throughout Australia from 2008.
The release would be irreversible as several weeds (wild radish, wild turnip and charlock) to which canola is related grow widely in our environment. Canola and these weeds can exchange pollen and genes so the weeds would soon acquire GM herbicide tolerance and become a permanent reservoir of contamination.
Public interest groups and affected GM-free businesses are working hard to keep the bans in place and need your support. A multitude of unresolved problems - health, environmental, social, and economic - require the bans to be extended for five more years, at least.
Your engagement with this campaign is essential to its success - to protect the integrity and security of the human food supply from GM contamination.
Please join in, on this website and in your own community. Future generations - your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren - will thank you for the GM-free future that we can create together.
Submission to the State Review
Assess the economic impacts of the state ban on commercial genetically manipulated (GM) canola
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Premier sows the seeds of destruction
Premiers John Brumby and Morris Iemma are trashing Australia’s GM-free advantage, by allowing the state’s GM canola bans to expire.
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GM canola bans - unresolved threshold issues
State and territory bans on GM food crops, including canola, should be extended for at least five years. Further research and policy development is essential to resolve various threshold issues before the bans could be lifted.
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Brumby Guts GM Crop Ban
The Brumby government guts its GM crop ban by letting Bayer Cropscience grow Genetically Manipulated (GM) herbicide tolerant canola now
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GM-free Zone Petition
An achievable goal is your local council declaring its area a GM-free Zone. Please print, fill and submit the attached petition to your council.
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Brumby's GM canola: doomed to fail
Brumby's government ignores the reasonable arguments of community groups, subverts democratic processes and arrogantly crashes-through with grandiose schemes that are doomed to fail the public.
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Brumby to extend the GM canola ban
At Noon today, hundreds of protesters from various citizen groups will rally on the steps of Parliament House. They will call on Premier Brumby to extend the ban on commercial Genetically Manipulated (GM) herbicide tolerant canola for five more years at least.
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Confirmed: GM Canola is a Weed
New Swedish research just published confirms that GM canola contamination will be permanent and irreversible
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ABARE pushes GM crops with phony stats
The latest ABARE modelling exercise "Economic Impacts of GM crops in Australia" uses false assumptions and fantasies to back Genetically Manipulated (GM) crops.
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Gene Ethics backs WA Government call on GM foods
Gene Ethics fully supports WA Premier Alan Carpenter’s call today for labels on all Genetic Manipulated (GM) foods and for all GM food approvals to stop while these unsafe foods are fully safety tested.
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Map of Victorian Canola Sites
This map shows farms where Monsanto's Roundup tolerant GM canola is reportedly being grown or is intended for planting in Victoria
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GM Canola Site Map a Public Service
Gene Ethics today published a map of commercial Genetically Manipulated (GM) canola sites at www.geneethics.org Premier Brumby refuses to set up an official GM site register.
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West Australian GM-free breakthrough today
Gene Ethics applauds Premier Alan Carpenter's announcement of a four-year extension to the WA ban on all Genetically Manipulated (GM) food and fiber crops.
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GM-free WA guaranteed if Labor is returned
The Carpenter government today made bold commitments to GM-free (no Genetically Manipulated crops). Their comprehensive GM-free policies are a bonanza for WA food and farming industries.
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Map of NSW Canola Sites
This map shows farms where Monsanto's Roundup tolerant GM canola is reportedly being grown or is intended for planting in New South Wales
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NSW GM site Map Published Today
Gene Ethics' map of Genetically Manipulated Roundup tolerant canola sites and GM canola depots in NSW was published today with information gleaned from media reports.
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Strong backing for GM-free in Victorian council elections
162 candidates for election to 47 Victorian councils back GM-free policies. Gene Ethics' 4,000 constituents will support them and GM-free policies.
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GM Canola Contamination at Horsham
GM Cropwatch's Jessica Harrison today found Genetically Manipulated (GM) canola plants heaped up on the roadside near the Natimuk/Rudolph's Rd junction, 5 minutes from Horsham. Galahs were also seen feasting on GM canola last week.
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Community Cleanup of GM canola contamination at Horsham
Angry growers will do a Community Cleanup of GM canola contamination at 11am Thursday November 27, to quarantine plants and seed on roadsides near Horsham.
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GM Cropwatch visits Lubeck
GM CROPWATCH is monitoring roadsides and railway lines in the Horsham area this week. Cropwatch technician Jessica Harrison is testing canola and related weeds for GM contamination.
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GM Canola has Wings
GM Cropwatch technician Jessica Harrison photographed pink and grey galahs feasting on a GM canola crop near the Horsham-Natimuk Road on Friday
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Australia-wide public forums: GM crops - the benefits and risks Hear first hand experiences from Canada and the USA
With Genetically Manipulated (GM) canola grown last year in Victoria and NSW, farmers are deciding if GM canola will be good or bad to grow. North American farmers will tell you about the possible benefits and risks of GM crops and answer your questions on corporate influence, segregation failures, legal issues and the effect on markets.
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Map of WA Canola Sites
This map shows farms where Monsanto's Roundup tolerant GM canola is reportedly being grown or is intended for planting in Western Australia
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GM Canola Segregation Lies Unravel
BULK grain handler GrainCorp will mix Genetically Manipulated (GM) and non-GM canola varieties together from now on. After just one season, the GM industry has scrapped its pretence that GM and non-GM canola can and will be segregated.
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Tasmanian GM Ban Makes Sense
The Tasmanian Government ban until 2014 on Genetically Manipulated (GM) crops, animals and microbes has the support of all political parties and the community. It is an economic winner for the state
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GM Canola Growing in Melbourne Suburb
Gene Ethics' supporters will picket the first confirmed GM canola site in suburban Melbourne, at Berwick at 10am today. The GM crop is growing on property owned by the family of State Opposition leader Ted Baillieu.
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Give back Monsanto’s GM canola growing wild in Victoria
Gene Ethics’ activists will hand back Monsanto’s Genetically Manipulated (GM) canola to Agricultural Minister Joe Helper and Monsanto at the GM ‘coexistence’ conference being held at Melbourne’s Convention Centre today. The GM canola was found growing wild on roadsides in Victoria and New South Wales and collected by GM Cropwatch.
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ISAAA reports less GM crops in 2009
The annual GM industry-funded survey of global GM crops, by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agro-biotech Applications (ISAAA), shows 7 of the 25 GM countries grew less genetically manipulated (GM) crops in 2009. No more countries adopted GM and just 2.7% of global agricultural land was used for GM soy, corn, canola and cotton.
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