Greens welcome GM moratorium extension but urge action and openness on contamination - 14 September 2005

Greens MLC Ian Cohen today welcomed the government’s decision to extend the moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops in NSW.

”Congratulation to Minister Ian Macdonald for listening to the people of NSW who overwhelmingly want GE free food and crops,” Mr Cohen said.

“The legislation to extend the moratorium must not be watered down to allow any ‘threshold’ level of contamination.

“The Minister now needs to back up his move with real action to stop contamination of GM free crops.

“Without action from the minister on this front GM free farmers face considerable commercial risk.

“The Minister should come clean on any contamination that may have already occurred in NSW and whether any crops which are part of the National Variety Trials have recently had to be destroyed.

“Any testing, contamination and clean costs must not paid for by the farmers who are doing the right thing. The NSW Government should be pushing for a national framework on liability to ensure that GM contamination costs are borne by the GM industry. Government must move quickly to ensure farmers are not out of pocket.

“The organic and GM free markets are booming both locally and in terms of exports.

“Recent contamination scares in WA and Victoria and South Australia mean that NSW is under real threat.

“Yesterday in question time I urged the minister to immediately begin independent testing of the state’s canola crops to ensure that any contamination is constrained. Mr Macdonald said he would be leaving testing to industry – this is just not good enough,” Mr Cohen said.