Australian Government
The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator
Early-bird notification:

COMING SOON

Your chance to comment on the Risk Assessment and Risk Management Plan for proposed dealings involving intentional release of genetically modified cotton: DIR 058/2005

Applications
 

The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) has received an application under section 40 of the Gene Technology Act 2000 (the Act) from Deltapine Australia Pty Ltd which, if approved, would involve a limited and controlled release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the Australian environment.

Details of DIR 058/2005 are as follows:

The licence application proposes to conduct a field trial of three genetically modified insecticidal cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) lines that have previously been assessed and approved for limited and controlled release under DIR licences issued to other applicants.  The proposed release would take place at two sites on a total of one hectare over the 2005/06 summer season, in New South Wales and Queensland.  The GM cotton lines contain an insect resistance gene derived from a common soil bacterium.  This gene produces a protein, known as Vegetative Insecticidal Protein, that is toxic to certain insects, including the major caterpillar pests of cotton.  One of the lines also contains a selectable marker gene that confers resistance to the antibiotic hygromycin.
 

Purpose of this notification
 

As the Gene Technology Regulator, I would like to advise people who have previously expressed interest in knowing about work with GMOs in Australia that they now have the opportunity to access information about this application, including the application itself.

You can obtain a copy of the application from my Office (see contact details below).  When contacting the office, please quote the reference number of the application you are interested in.  As the application is quite lengthy, you may prefer to view a summary of the application, which is posted on our website with this document (under “What’s New”).  If you would like to receive a hard copy of the summary, please contact us and we will post it to you.

A comprehensive ‘Risk Assessment and Risk Management Plan’ (RARMP) for this application is now being prepared with input from a broad range of expert groups and stakeholders, including State and Territory Governments, relevant local councils, key Australian Government agencies, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage and the Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee.  The RARMP is expected to be released for public comment in mid June 2005.

If you have questions about the application, or how you can provide comment, please contact us at:

The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator
PO Box 100
Woden,  ACT,  2606
Website:  www.ogtr.gov.au
E-mail:  ogtr@health.gov.au
Phone:  1800 181 030
Fax:  (02) 6271 4202

This document in PDF format: http://www.ogtr.gov.au/pdf/ir/dir058ebnotification.pdf

DIR 058/2005 - cotton licence application summary

APPLICATION FOR LICENCE FOR INTENTIONAL RELEASE OF GMOs INTO THE ENVIRONMENT: Application No. DIR 058/2005

SUMMARY INFORMATION
 

Introduction

The Gene Technology Act 2000 (the Act) took effect on 21 June 2001.  The Act, supported by the Gene Technology Regulations 2001, an inter-governmental agreement and corresponding legislation that is being enacted in each State and Territory, underpins Australia’s nationally consistent regulatory system for gene technology. Its objective is to protect the health and safety of people, and the environment, by identifying risks posed by or as a result of gene technology, and managing those risks by regulating certain dealings with genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The Act establishes a statutory officer, the Gene Technology Regulator (the Regulator), to administer the legislation and make decisions under the legislation.  The Regulator is supported by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR), an Australian Government regulatory agency located within the Health and Ageing portfolio.

The legislation sets out the requirements for considering applications for licences for dealings with GMOs, which includes the preparation of a risk assessment and risk management plan (RARMP) for each proposed intentional release of a GMO into the environment, and the matters that the Regulator must take into account before deciding whether, or not, to issue a licence.

The application and the proposed dealings

The OGTR has received an application from Deltapine Australia Pty Ltd (Deltapine) for a licence for the intentional release of three genetically modified (GM) cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) lines[1] into the environment, on a limited scale and under controlled conditions.

Deltapine proposes to carry out a field trial on two sites covering a total area of up to one hectare (maximum of 0.5 hectare per trial site) over a single summer season, 2005/2006. The trial would be conducted in the Local Government Areas of Narrabri Shire, NSW and Emerald Shire, Qld.

The GM cotton lines proposed for release were originally imported from the United States by CSIRO under AQIS import permits.  They each contain one of three different transformation events in the American cultivar Coker 312 (this cultivar is often used as a starting point of research as it is easily transformed in the laboratory). The COT102 GM cotton line (COT102 line) contains insect resistance (vip3A) and antibiotic resistance (aph4) genes.  The COT202 and COT203 lines contain only the insect resistance gene, vip3A. The GM cotton lines produce vegetative insecticidal protein (VIP) that is toxic to lepidopteran caterpillar pests of cotton.

The aim of the proposed release is to produce seed from the GM cotton lines.  The applicant anticipates using the seed in future larger scale trials to transfer the insect resistance trait to elite Australian cotton cultivars, evaluate the effectiveness of protection and undertake target and non-target ecological assessments. These trials would be the subject of future applications and require separate assessments and approval processes.

None of the cotton plants from the release, or their by-products, would be used for animal and human food.  An approval from Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) would be required before oil from cotton containing the vip3A gene could be used for human consumption.  However, the applicant proposes to sell lint from the release for use as fibre in the textile industry.  Lint does not contain genetic material or protein. 

Transport and storage of the GM material would be conducted in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Regulator.  Following harvest, plant material remaining at the site would be removed and/or destroyed.  Any cottonseed not required for research purposes or possible future releases would also be destroyed.

Details of the gene construct, including the plasmid map and regulatory sequences for the COT102, COT202 and COT 203 cotton lines, have previously been declared as Confidential Commercial Information (CCI) under section 185 of the Act in connection with previous applications (DIRs 017/2002 and 036/2003).  However, the CCI will be made available to the prescribed expert groups and agencies that will be consulted on the preparation of the risk assessment and risk management plan for this application.

Previous releases of the GMO

Under the former voluntary system overseen by the Genetic Manipulation Advisory Committee (GMAC), CSIRO conducted one similar limited and controlled release of the COT102 line (PR-151). The release was less than 0.05 hectare, and was carried out in NSW.  In addition, the Regulator previously issued licences approving the limited and controlled release of:

Ø    the GM cotton line COT102 to CSIRO under DIR 017/2002 in NSW and under DIR 025/2002 in north western Western Australia (WA);

Ø    the GM cotton line COT102 to Syngenta under DIR 034/2003 (however no plantings occurred) in NSW and Qld; and

Ø    the GM cotton lines COT102, COT202 and COT203 to CSIRO under DIR 36/2003 (however no plantings occurred) in NSW and Qld.

There have been no reports of adverse effects on human health or the environment resulting from any of the releases that occurred.

Parent organism

The parent organism is cultivated cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), which is exotic to Australia and is grown as an agricultural crop in NSW and southern Qld and on a trial basis in northern Qld, north western WA and the NT.

Genetic modification and its effect

The COT102 GM cotton line contains an insecticidal gene, vip3A, derived from a common soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt).  The vip3A gene encodes a protein (VIP) that is toxic to the major lepidopteran caterpillar pests of cotton (Helicoverpa amigera and H. punctigera).

In addition to the vip3A gene, the COT102 line contains a commonly used selectable marker gene, aph4, from the bacterium Escherichia coli that confers resistance to the antibiotic hygromycin B. The marker gene enables identification of plant tissues in which the insecticidal gene is being expressed during the initial laboratory stage of development of the GMOs.

The COT202 and COT203 lines proposed for release have had the selectable marker gene, aph4, removed through segregation in subsequent breeding experiments and will therefore contain only the insect resistant gene vip3A.

Short regulatory sequences that control expression of the genes are also present in all the GM cotton lines.  Some of these are derived from a plant and a common bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens.  Although A. tumefaciens is a plant pathogen, the regulatory sequences comprise only a small part of its total genome, and are not in themselves capable of causing disease.

Method of genetic modification

The GM cotton lines were produced by introducing the vip3A and aph4 genes into the Coker 312 cotton variety on a plasmid vector carried by Agrobacterium tumefaciens.  The vector is ‘disarmed’ since it lacks the genes that encode the tumour-inducing functions of A. tumefaciens.

Consultation on preparation of the Risk Assessment and Risk Management Plan

The Regulator has made an initial assessment as to whether the proposed release may pose significant risks to human health and safety or the environment, in accordance with section 49 of the Act.  Due to the low risk potential of the GMOs, the control measures that will be imposed, and the limited scale and scope of the dealings, the Regulator has decided that the proposed release does not pose a significant risk to human health and safety or the environment.

This means that the Regulator is not required to seek public comment on the assessment of this proposal until after a risk assessment and risk management plan (RARMP) has been prepared. In the interim, copies of the application are available on request from the OGTR.  Please quote application number DIR 058/2005.

In preparing the RARMP, the Regulator will seek input from a wide range of key stakeholders and expert groups comprising State and Territory Governments, relevant Australian Government agencies, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, the Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee and appropriate local councils, as required by section 50 of the Act.  In accordance with section 52 of the Act, the Regulator will again consult with these prescribed agencies and authorities as well as the public in finalising the RARMP.

At this stage, the consultation version of the RARMP is expected to be issued for consultation in mid June 2005.  The public will be invited to provide submissions on the RARMP via advertisements in the media and direct mail to anyone registered on the OGTR mailing list.  Summaries and copies of the RARMP will be available from the OGTR, or on the OGTR website.

If you have any questions abut the application or the assessment process, please contact the OGTR at: