Media release: Major grain traders reject GM canola

Submitted by Louise Sales on Thu, 26/05/2011 - 18:02

WA Greens spokesperson on GMOs Lynn MacLaren has accused WA’s Agriculture Minister of jeopardising valuable export markets by allowing the commercial growing of genetically modified (GM) canola in the state, now that major grain traders are rejecting the product.

Hon. Lynn MacLaren MLC said “Two of Australia’s biggest grain traders – Elders-Toepfer and Glencore Grain - have said they are not currently taking GM canola because European markets don’t want it.”

“95 per cent of WA’s canola went to Europe last year – a market with no tolerance for GM canola. Canola is an open pollinated crop, so now that GM canola has been introduced in the state it is only a matter of time before our non-GM shipments get contaminated and start being rejected,” said Ms MacLaren.

“Canada completely lost its canola exports to Europe and WA risks the same thing happening here if it continues down the GM path,” added Ms MacLaren.

GM canola is one of the most difficult GM crops to segregate, since it is extremely prolific, persistent and commonly grows as a weed. In a UK Government study GM canola was found to cross-pollinate with non-GM canola more than 26 km away (1).  The segregation of non-GM canola in Canada has failed, leading to the collapse of its non-GM and organic canola industries. The extent of contamination in Canada is such that 90 per cent of certified non-GM canola seed samples contain GM material (2).

“After just one year of growing GM canola commercially we have already seen contamination occur in WA. Farmer protection legislation is urgently needed to protect non-GM farmers from economic losses if GM contamination does occur,” concluded Ms MacLaren.

(1) Ramsay, G., Thompson, C. & Squire, G. (2004) Quantifying landscape-scale gene flow in oilseed rape, Scottish Crop Research Institute and the UK Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), October 2004, p. 4.

(2) Friesen, L., Nelson, A. & Van Acker, R. (2003) Evidence of Contamination of Pedigreed Canola (Brassica napus) Seedlots in Western Canada with Genetically Engineered Herbicide Resistance Traits,” Agronomy Journal 95, 2003, pp. 1342-1347