Leading SA scientists call on all state MPs to end GM ban in open letter, as Labor remains split over push for farmers’ ‘choice’
Leading SA scientists have urged all state MPs to back the abolition of a ban on genetically-modified crops, saying farmers need the emerging technology to deal with climate change.
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Leading SA scientists and the state’s peak grain producers’ body have urged all state MPs to back the abolition of a ban on genetically modified crops.
In a bold entry to an often-emotional political debate over GM, five eminent scientists say farmers need new technology to deal with climate change.
The experts have penned a full-page letter in Monday’s Advertiser which urges MPs to “support SA science”.
They want to “give our farmers a fighting chance” against an increasingly volatile climate. It comes as the Labor Opposition and SA Best consider whether to back a Greens plan that would effectively reverse State Government attempts to have the longstanding ban lifted.
Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister Tim Whetstone last month released new regulations to give SA growers “choice” on GM, following public consultation and an independent review.
The ban is to remain on Kangaroo Island, due to local requests.
Flinders University Emeritus Professor David Day, one of the five open-letter signatories, said it was essential farmers had flexibility in adapting to climate change.
He also said that the ban stymied research, by limiting real-life observations in the field.
“SA is being disadvantaged by the GM ban,” Professor Day said. “There was an extensive review into the whole thing which showed it was economically damaging.
“This is basically an effort to make people aware that there are real benefits to lifting the moratorium, which would bring us into line with the other states.” Professor Day said opponents often misunderstood how the technology worked, and overstated economic benefits from a “clean, green” marketing spin they claimed was attached to a ban.
“There is climate change and degrading soils and an increasing world population to feed, so it’s a wicked problem and we just need every arrow in the quiver for that,” he said, adding that the views stated in the open letter were widely shared across the scientific community.
The Opposition is understood to be divided on the issue, as senior Labor MP and former agriculture minister Leon Bignell went public this month urging the ban be maintained. He was an architect of the ban, and says there’s been “no change” in Labor’s policy.
“I remain opposed to lifting of the moratorium because it will give away a massive marketing advantage that SA’s food producers have at the moment,” he said this month.
However, Opposition agriculture spokesman Eddie Hughes has said Labor “is currently assessing the findings and recommendations of the parliamentary select committee into the GM moratorium, including the evidence on price premiums”.
Grain Producers SA vice- chairman Adrian McCabe, who grows crops including wheat and canola, urged Labor to swiftly declare that it would back the lifting of SA’s GM ban.
“It’s on (Opposition Leader) Peter Malinauskas now,” Mr McCabe said. “The conversations I’ve had with people in the Labor Party is that they’ve really tried to understand the science, and recognise it’s a solution.”
Mr McCabe said concerns about cross-contamination were a “furphy”, and those who wanted to grow produce free from GM could still do so and have it kept separate from other crops.
In pushing to remove the ban, Greens MP Mark Parnell told Parliament the Government was using a regulatory “loophole” to make the change. He said colleagues should strike down the process and challenge the Government to end the ban through new legislation. “There is a substantial risk that contamination will occur,” he said.
“In order to take advantage of the opportunities to supply to these important and lucrative niche overseas markets, South Australia needs to maintain its clean and green image.”