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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 11 Hansard (13 December) . . Page.. 2950 ..

Mr Berry: And the price of Akubra hats will probably go up.

MR CONNOLLY: "And the price of Akubra hats may go up", says Mr Berry. Today I heard another expert saying that, in laboratory tests in the United States, technicians who had been doing work on calicivirus were developing hand and facial blisters.

Mrs Carnell: Which expert is right?

MR CONNOLLY: That is the point. When experts disagree, the prudent lay person says, "Hang on a minute, before we start eating this stuff".

We are deliberately not saying, "You cannot sell genetically engineered or irradiated food". At the outset, I said that irradiated food is subject to an NFA ban - and that is a good thing - but I also said that, to be very safe, we should send a very strong message that this parliament will require compulsory notification. The same applies to genetically altered food, although it is disturbing to me, and to many in the consumer and environment movements in Australia, that the National Food Authority has been steadily retreating from its expected position of mandatory notification.

Mrs Carnell says that things have been approved on a case-by-case basis. They have. There is considerable concern in some quarters about a fairly minor use of genetic technology in relation to cheesemaking. I was subjected to some ridicule by Simon Grose in the Canberra Times over this recently. Liberal staffers chuckle over that. Many people do not think that it is funny. The fact is that some people, for ethical or religious reasons, do have some problems with eating cheese. They may be vegetarians, but they have problems with eating cheese because the traditional rennet process, which is the ingredient that makes the milk into cheese - that is putting it in very simple terms - comes from the stomach linings of slaughtered newborn calves. Some people have some difficulty with that. I must say that I, personally, do not; I quite enjoy my cheese. Some people have difficulty with that. It is quite expensive, as well as causing other problems.

There have now been products developed which, essentially, involve a recombinant DNA molecule which is taken from the slaughtered calf and then blended. Perhaps that is not the word. "Mixed", again, is probably not the word. I do not claim to be a scientist. But that DNA from the calf's stomach lining is blended with bacteria. That creates a product which has the same effect. It is a matter of some concern to some people who are very strict vegetarians. These products are sometimes marketed as not containing any animal material. People think, "This is a cheese, without any animal product, that I can eat". They have been quite disturbed when they find out that the product that does curdle the milk to make the cheese is recombinant DNA, which is sourced back to an animal product. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with that cheese. People should have the right to know.

I am concerned about what is waiting in the wings. The fact is that there are waiting in the wings tomatoes that have another product's DNA in them. People may be allergic to that DNA or to that product. We do not know how that will impact. We know that genetically altered potatoes are very close to coming onto the market, because one of the major crisp manufacturers has developed a genetically altered potato.

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