Glyphosate petition for Councils 2
08 October 2018Use this petition to lobby your council to fund a pilot scheme using alternatives to glyphosate-based herbicides.
>> download fileGlyphosate Petition for Councils 1
08 October 2018Use this petition to lobby your council to phase out the use of glyphosate-based herbicides in 2019.
>> download fileThird Letter to GT Forum Ministers
20 December 2018There are compelling reasons to continue regulating new Genetic Manipulation techniques such as CRISPR, ZFN, Talen, and their products.
>> download fileInquiry into the Independence of the APVMA
30 November 2018The APVMA is not independent as its assessments use chemical industry data. It also uses ‘regulatory science’ so is not scientific. Further independent testing and scientific evidence are needed. The onus of proof for safety and efficacy must rest on the applicants and the precautionary principle must apply. APVMA ignores the cumulative and synergistic impacts of multiple chemicals all approved for use on the same crop.
>> download fileSelect Committee on South Australian GM moratorium - Submission
21 November 2018The Select Committee’s Terms of Reference are the costs and benefits of SA’s moratorium on the commercial sale and growing of GM canola, and the ban on transport of GM seed through the state. We discuss major present and future threats to SA’s powers to keep its GM-free status that new and emerging CRISPR GM techniques and policies pose.
>> download fileGM-Free South Australia - Submission to PIRSA
12 November 2018We recommend that the SA government:
• maintain its GM-free policies and moratorium on growing commercial GM canola until at least 2025, as parliament decided;
• keep and enforce the state ban on GM seed transport through the state;
• advocate the OGTR and FSANZ continue to assess, regulate and license all new and emerging CRISPR GM techniques and their products.
Submission | Department of Environment on COP14 synthetic biology
18 October 2018Governments must consult more widely on the impacts of GMO's on biodiversity. Synthetic biology (synbio) supersedes the first generation of GM organisms and is an industry predicted to be worth US$40 billion by 2020. New genome manipulation tools and cheaper DNA synthesis make the industrial use of gene manipulation simpler.
>> download fileSecond letter to GT Forum Ministers on CRISPR
18 October 2018We again call on members of the Legislative and Governance Forum on Gene Technology to reject proposed deregulation of new SDN1 GM techniques and their living products.
>> download fileLetter | Gene Tech Forum Ministers | CRISPR (SDN1) deregulation proposal
18 October 2018We ask all members of the Legislative and Governance Forum on Gene Technology (state Ministers of Health or Agriculture), to say ‘no’ to the deregulation of new CRISPR (SDN1) techniques and their living products.
>> download fileSubmission | Craik Review on Agriculture and Environment Protection
25 June 2018This inquiry into interactions between the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999 and the agriculture sector is a sham as its goal is deregulation. Ministers Frydenberg and Littleproud intend to remove government regulation of corporate farming activities, despite environmental impacts or the EPBC Act's ability to stop harmful farm practices.
>> download fileSubmission | FSANZ NBT (new CRISPR GM)
07 June 2018Animals, plants and microbes created using the New GM techniques (aka New Breeding Techniques) may soon be in the food supply. Yet FSANZ proposes that most such foods will be deregulated. FSANZ’s documents and processes focus on GM plants, ignoring the more controversial animals and microbes.
>> download fileSubmission | Third Review | Gene Technology Scheme Preliminary Report
01 June 2018The Precautionary Principle must remain the lynchpin of the Gene Technology Act. GM techniques and their living products pose unique risks that must be fully assessed and regulated before GM organisms are released into the environment, or used in food and medicine.
>> download fileSubmission | Department of the Environment on synbio, LMOs and invasives
01 June 2018The Australian Department of the Environment will take a weak position to the UN's Scientific (SBSTTA) meeting on synthetic biology (synbio), LMOs (Genetically Manipulated Organisms) and invasive species. We met the staff and also advocated for Australia to join the international Cartagena Biosafety Protocol.
>> download fileSubmission | Gene Technology Regulations Review
04 March 2018The Gene Technology Regulations Review proposals are unacceptable as the Office of Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) seeks to deregulate new CRISPR GM SDN1 techniques (including ZFN and Talen), though they are unsafe, have off-target impacts, and have a scant history of safe use.
>> download fileOISCC | Keep the 5 Year conversion from GM to organic
03 January 2018Australian Organic (AO) wants to amend the National Standard for Organic and Bio-Dynamic Produce. The present minimum of five years for conversion of land where GM crops were grown to certified Organic would be rewduced to three years. As canola seed can remain dormant for up to a decade, we argue that five years minimum is reasonable. The Tasmanian GM cleanup is a lesson.
>> download fileSubmission | Phase 2, 2017 National Gene Technology Scheme review
03 January 2018This Review of the national Gene Technology Scheme must continue to exercise precaution, to protect human health, safety and the environment. But the questions posed in Phase 2 go far beyond review of the existing Scheme and put commercial and other objectives above the core goals that all Australian governments agreed to when the GT Act was passed in 2000.
>> download file