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53. Can GM crops be segregated from non-GM crops?
Recent overseas reports suggest that coexistence between GM and non-GM production is not only possible, but that it is already occurring in Europe and North America.
Spain is one of the few European Union Member Countries growing commercial GM crops. Since 1998, an insect resistant GM corn variety has been grown in some parts of Spain, and according to the report, it is successfully segregated from organic and non-GM corn in the country without any economic or commercial problems.
The experience in North America in relation to the coexistence of GM crops through the supply chain has also been successful. Of the organic growers surveyed, 92 per cent have not incurred any “direct, additional costs or incurred losses due to GM crops having been grown near their costs”. Four per cent lost organic sales or had their crops downgrade because of the presence of GM material, and four per cent incurred extra costs in relation to testing for the presence of GM in their produce.
In 2007, the Australian grains industry released a document titled, Delivering market choice with GM canola in order to demonstrate the Australian grains industry’s capacity to use GM canola and deliver market choice.
The Australian grains industry recognises customer needs and has outlined the protocols, procedures and processes that are either already in place, or will need to be in place, for the introduction of GM canola.
The statement explores three broad ways GM canola can be managed in the supply chain:
- co-existence with other canola varieties and other grains;
- in a semi-integrated system; and,
- in a separate supply chain.
The grains industry recognises that choice must be a priority across the supply chain so that all customers – from farmers to consumers - can use or access the products of their choice.
54. Does research indicate that coexistence is a reality for GM canola?
Australian researchers published research results on this topic in the prestigious Science journal in July 2002. The work looked at pollen movement from fields of conventional herbicide resistant canola to nearby canola crops across southern Australia.
The study involved collecting and testing 48 million seeds from 63 canola fields up to five kilometres from the herbicide resistant canola to see if they contained the herbicide resistance gene. The findings include - the furthest detected pollen was 2.6 kilometres from the source, 23 fields contained no resistance, and most of those which did contain resistance had levels lower than 0.03 per cent, with the highest level being seven seeds in 10,000 (0.07 per cent).
From these results, the researchers conclude that:
- Pollen was carried to other fields in amounts well below internationally recognised levels (0.1 per cent) for unwanted genetic transfer.
- Non-GM canola is not in any danger of being excluded from markets on the basis of containing GM content because even without segregation, the cross-pollination levels were so low (less than 0.07 per cent) that any practicable tests would not be able to detect pollination from GM canola in non-GM crops.
The Australian government accepts one per cent as the practical limit for detection of GM ingredients in foodstuffs, whilst the acceptable limit for the European Union is 0.9 per cent.
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