Adelaide, Australia
August 24, 2007
To manage issues such as climate
change and land degradation, we need to embrace the full
spectrum of human ingenuity and science, including technologies
such as genetic engineering.
Respected University of Adelaide plant scientists, Professor
Peter Langridge and Professor Mark Tester of the
Australian Centre for Plant
Functional Genomics (ACPFG) today came out in support of the
‘GM Canola: An Information Package’ report released recently by
the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and have
called for a serious and informed debate on the issue of genetic
modification of foods.
They claim that the case for using technologies and improvements
coming from gene technology is now incontrovertible.
“We now have yet another report that demonstrates the economic
and environmental benefits that could be achieved through the
introduction of GM canola into Australia,” said Professor Peter
Langridge, Chief Executive Officer of ACPFG.
The latest figures show that GM crop adoption has grown by
around 12% every year since the first release of GM crops in
1996.
Exhaustive studies in Europe and other parts of the world into
the environmental and human safety issues related to GM crops
have also been conducted.
“These studies have found no evidence of any negative effects
and indeed suggest that GM foods are safer than conventional
foods due to the high degree of scrutiny and analysis required
for registration of a GM food crop,” said Professor Mark Tester
ARC Federation Fellow with ACPFG.
“We are now seeing recognition of the reality of climate change
and the impact of human activities at all levels of government
and this has resulted in the development of serious plans and
strategies to try and tackle or at least ameliorate the
problems.” Professor Langridge stated. “If we are going to make
real progress in the way we use new technologies, it is
important that we have an open and honest debate, particularly
about technologies such as genetic engineering.”
“A debate on the merits of these technologies is essential, of
course, but it must be based on logic and evidence, not fear and
belief. And the evidence is clear that the benefits are
considerable, and the risks of deleterious consequences is
decreasing by the year as predicted disasters fail to emerge,”
Professor Tester concluded.
ACPFG headquarters are located at the University of Adelaide's
Waite Campus. Major research nodes are also located at the
University of Melbourne, Department of Primary Industries at
Latrobe University and at the University of Queensland.
Funding has been provided by The Australian Research Council
(ARC), the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC),
the South Australian Government, the University of Adelaide, the
University of Melbourne, Department of Primary Industries (Vic)
and the University of Queensland. |
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