Queensland – In an article in Australian Biotechnology News, the Queensland Government’s Innovation and Information Economy Minister, Paul Lucas, was quoted as saying that there were no plans to pass legislation enabling Queensland councils to legally enforce GM-free zones. Voluntary bans agreed upon by local farmers however would be an acceptable way of creating such zones for marketing purposes, according to Premier Peter Beattie.

The Beattie Government has committed approximately $270 million to biotechnology funding over the next 10 years.

South Australia and Western Australia – Neither of these Governments have released a response to their GE Free Zones papers and the subsequent public consultation period.

At the meeting the Committee discussed the development of ethical guidelines for the new regulatory system, as well as the current and likely ethical issues in gene technology.

GTEC identified the following priority areas:
1. An assessment of the need to establish an ethical review process for all types of applications for genetic modification work in relation to plants and animals;
2. The ethical aspects of risk in relation to GMOs;
3. The institutional and commercial context of consent in relation to GMOs and their possible impacts on the community;
4. Ethical matters in relation to genetically modified animals including animal welfare considerations; and
5. Ethical matters in relation to gene transfer across kingdoms, for example between animals and plants.

The Committee has formed working groups of members based on relevant expertise and interests. These working parties will research and prepare issues papers on these five topics for consideration at GTEC’s next meeting in May.

All industries, particularly smaller ones, need to ensure they are getting good value for their research dollars.

There are a number of industry groups that are regularly held up as shining examples of horticultural path-forgers. It is not necessarily because they are big - although some are - but because they have analysed and defined their needs and engaged with researchers to use their levy funds effectively. An industry worth around $100m, that collects a levy of 0.5%, will have $500K to invest in research, which will realistically support three to four major scientific projects. Once the decision is made to seek a research solution, for any sized industry, the aim should be to use the best people and the best technology to achieve their particular goals.

Gene technology, as a suite of new tools and a rapidly growing body of knowledge, has already proved its worth - without even considering genetically modified plants.

Techniques such as marker assisted breeding, gene probes, PCR (polymerase chain reaction), ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) are routinely used in plant, animal and human research laboratories.

The chances are that if your industry is carrying out or paying for research on pests, diseases or disorders of your crop these technologies are already being used - if not you might ask why not!

Genetically modified plants are another kettle of fish! At this stage there are few GM horticultural crops in production around the world and only one in Australia - the blue carnation. For the near future it seems likely that there will be more debate in the Australian community and evidence gathered that genetically modified plants can deliver tangible and acceptable benefits before agreeing to their release outside of trials.

But researchers in CSIRO, Universities, State Departments and private laboratories are working together with colleagues overseas on a staggering range of projects based on understanding the action and interaction of genes in organisms. The involvement of Australian researchers in these teams ensures that we will have access to useful results from the work, rather than having perhaps to pay royalties.

As the technology becomes cheaper and more and more information is amassed it becomes even more obvious that many problems are common across crops. The pooling of gene technology projects is becoming the quickest and smartest way to such generic solutions to specific problems for even the smallest of industries.

In Australia, HAL has taken the first step in developing a culture of investing in 'generic' research by funding the "Key Genes for Horticultural Markets" project. One-and-a-half million dollars of industry and government funds has been awarded to CSIRO Plant Industry to look at genes influencing fruit and vegetable size, shape, colour and seed content. Useful outcomes from this will be available to Australian horticultural industries first and foremost.

In a few years the question might be "can you afford not to be using gene technology"!

Australia – A recent survey of 500 people, conducted by Quantum Market Research for Biotechnology Australia, has shown that Australian consumers are willing to eat GM foods although they are still concerned about them. The survey replicates one conducted in May 2001 in order to measure areas of change.

The survey found that GM food issues were of lesser concern to people than new and emerging biotechnology issues such as human health and cloning. There was an increased awareness of biotechnology issues (76 to 87 per cent).

In relation to labelling, when asked whether labelling of GM foods would alter their buying behaviour of foods:

• Those who said they would buy GM foods rose from nine to 15 per cent.
• Those who said they would not change their behaviour dropped from 37 to 33 per cent.
• Those who said they would not buy GM foods decreased from 46 to 41 per cent.

Other findings include:

• 60 per cent of people said they would buy GM foods if they were healthier (65 per cent in 2000);
• 51 per cent of people said they would buy GM foods if they tasted better (41 per cent in 2000);
• 40 per cent of people said they would buy GM foods if they lasted longer (36 per cent in 2000); and
• 45 per cent of people said they would buy GM foods if they were cheaper (36 per cent in 2000).

United Kingdom - The Food Standards Association’s (FSA) second annual "Consumer Attitudes to Food Survey" of more than 3000 people across the UK has revealed that consumers are becoming more aware of healthy eating and what food labels mean.

The survey showed that consumers are most concerned about issues such as food poisoning, BSE and pesticides. The level of concern about food containing GM ingredients has fallen, with 25 per cent of respondents in 2000, and 17 per cent in 2001 claiming to look for information about GM on food labels.

GM foods ranked behind food poisoning (59 per cent), BSE (55 per cent), animal feed and pesticides (50 per cent), as a food concern with 38 per cent of consumers worried (down from 43 per cent in 2000).

Italy – Researchers from Italian universities Trento and Padova carried out surveys in September 2000 and November 2001 to gauge public opinion about biotechnology. They were particularly interested in answering questions such as: does a higher level of access to scientific information in the media increase trust or change attitudes to science and biotechnology?

A total of 2039 Italians were sampled, and researchers found that:

• exposure to information does not always lead to greater trust in biotechnologies.
• greater exposure to science in the media does not necessarily mean a higher level of understanding. For example, the proportion of subjects who think "only genetically modified tomatoes contain genes while ordinary tomatoes don't," is almost identical among those with high (29%) and low (31%) exposure to science in the media.
• People who are exposed to at least one high-quality source of scientific information are more likely to have a positive attitude to biotechnologies.
• 49% of the better-informed respondents think that transferring genes into fruit or vegetables is useless, and 54% think it is risky.

The Australian Nut Industry Council does not have a policy about the use of gene technology, largely because gene technology is not being used in current nut research and development programs.

Australian tree nut growers have looked at the issue of gene technology, and while some are looking at the option in the future, it is no where near being utilised.

"Nut growers do not feel that they are being held back without gene technology", said Mr Joyce. "We don’t face a specific pest or disease that could be readily solved by new varieties; we don’t have that type of driver for gene technology. Almonds and pistachios grown in Australia hardly even need pesticides and relatively few fungal treatments are used."

Australian nut production is already amongst the most efficient in the world. Pecan production in Australia is the highest in the world per hectare; Australia’s macadamia yield and production outperforms the Hawaiian stocks; almonds are now equal or better than world’s best; and, the walnut and chestnut industries are set for serious production increases in the next few years.

"Tree nutrition and water management are two areas which have improved production in Australian nut trees. Improvements in these two areas alone have resulted in up to 30 per cent production increase for almond growers in the past five years," said Mr Joyce.

"The slow nature of nut breeding and the longevity of the successful varieties means that many growers haven’t even seriously considered gene technology. Pistachio and walnut trees are productive for around 80 years, and almonds for approximately 30 years, so growers with developed orchards don’t want their stock to be made redundant by new GM varieties, they want research and development programs that are relevant to them," said Mr Joyce.

"Some of the existing varieties are so popular and successful that they have been used for decades. The ‘Nonpareil’ almond variety has been around for 100 years, and still breeders are not overly hopeful of replacing it, rather they are primarily looking at better pollinators for it," said Mr Joyce.

"The almond industry is investigating the use of gene technology to speed up its traditional breeding program. Using gene technology to identify genes controlling key agronomic traits would allow breeders to advance the breeding program by selecting varieties with the desired characteristics from the outset.

A pistachio breeding program involving CSIRO researchers which began in the late 1970s will hopefully yield commercial varieties by 2005. Mr Joyce admits that with gene technology as a tool this 30 year time period may have been halved.

For further information about the Australian Nut Industry Council’s comment on gene technology, contact:

Chris Joyce
President
Tel: 0418 262 900
Email: ckjoyce@ozemail.com.au