Bayer submission comments
30 October 2011The supporting letter to the Gene Technology Regulator Joe Smith lists among other things that the GTR failed to require any systematic environmental data collection since the unconditional, unrestricted and unmonitored commercial release of Monsanto’s GM canola began in two Australian states three years ago. Monsanto’s Roundup tolerant GM canola has already led to extensive contamination of roadsides, non-GM farms and other disturbed environments in Australia. The RARMP concedes that outcrossing from GM canola to weedy and native relatives such as wild radish has been observed yet the GTR has commissioned no research that would validate or disprove the GTR’s assumptions of negligible outcrossing and impacts on natural environments. The signatories ask that the GTR, as a minimum, require such research to be conducted and evaluated before issuing any further commercial GM canola licences.