MS TUCKER (continuing):

further research is needed on allergic reaction to GM products, the cumulative effect of GMOs in the environment and the food chain and the fate of transgenic GMO.

I won't go on, but there were more.

It is also interesting to look at what's happening in Australia. In 2003 there was a comprehensive survey of Victorian farmer attitudes to genetically modified crops, and it showed overwhelmingly that they were concerned about the proposed introduction of GM canola. The survey, commissioned by Doug Shears from ICM Agribusiness and in consultation with a network of concerned farmers, provided overwhelming justification for a state-wide moratorium on the release of GM canola.

The key findings of the survey were:

71 per cent of farmers surveyed had concerns regarding the commercial release of GM canola;

67 per cent of farmers had significant concerns about the ability to market GM canola;

80 per cent of farmers had significant concerns about the ability of GM and non-GM canola to co-exist.

The survey, produced by the Paterson Group, involved phone interviews with a random and representative sample of 200 grain growers in Victoria. The qualitative survey found that the overwhelming majority of farmers have a wide range of concerns, including:

only 52 per cent of farmers surveyed considered that they have enough information to make a sound decision about the introduction of GM canola;

80 per cent of farmers have significant concerns about on-farm contamination issues;

72 per cent of farmers have significant concerns about the liability issues due to contamination;

71 per cent of farmers have significant concerns about patent rights depriving farmers of the right to save seeds;

only 20 per cent of farmers are confident that existing quality assurance systems are sufficient to ensure non-GM and GM canola can co-exist.

It was also interesting that there was a recent discovery of transgenic DNA in native Mexican corn. Native varieties of corn grown in remote regions have been contaminated by transgenic DNA, a finding which surprised and dismayed the University of California Berkeley researchers who made the discovery: