A call to ‘freeze’ the Gene Technology Bill
2000, introduced into Federal Parliament recently, by the
Australian Conservation Foundation’s GeneEthics Network stems
from a baseless accusation that research into transgenic goats
would be exempt under the proposed legislation, according to
Elizabeth Cain, Head of the Interim Office of the Gene
Technology Regulator.
"The transgenic goats, which are goats that
contain human genes to produce human albumin in their milk, will
be covered by the new bill that will potentially be among
world’s best practice in the area of gene technology
regulation," Ms Cain said.
"Currently the work on these transgenic goats
is subject to the Genetic Manipulation Advisory Committee’s
guidelines in which approval for this type of research must be
sought from an institutional bio-safety committee.
"GMAC is aware of this research and the South
Australian Research and Development Institute which is creating
these transgenic goats, is fully complying with the GMAC
guidelines and subsequently the research is subject to vigorous
safety guidelines.
"These guidelines have been in place for
decades and fortunately researchers in the area of gene
technology have to a great extent operated according to the GMAC
guidelines on a voluntary basis.
"However, it is time to move on from the
voluntary guidelines and put in place stringent legislation that
enables comprehensive assessment of all genetically modified
organisms (GMOs), thorough monitoring and extensive enforcement
powers," she said.
Ms Cain said an early draft of the Gene
Technology Regulations which underpin the bill, will shortly be
made available for public comment.
"The IOGTR will be accepting written comments
on the draft regulations which will be circulated for a second
round of community consultations, including public meetings,"
she said.
"The IOGTR welcomes individuals and
organisations, particularly the Australian Conservation
Foundation, to make the most of this opportunity to examine such
an important public health bill," she said.
