The NSW Greens will put forward amendments to the NSW Government’s GM food crop bill in an attempt to extend a blanket ban on commercial GM crops until 2011.
The Greens’ amendments also challenge the other parties to make a stand on behalf of GM-free farmers and support a strict regime of legal liability for the biotech companies who will profit from these crops.
“Whilst the government offers the fig leaf of common law to protect NSW farmers in the event that GM contamination occurs, the Greens are requesting the Parliament back a legally binding regime to ensure that biotech companies are responsible for their own organisms,” said Upper House Greens MP Ian Cohen.
“The Federal Government’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry have acknowledged that there are ‘gaps’ in common law protection for farmers. It’s worth looking at their warning:
“where the unintended presence of GMOs occurs despite all those involved in the GM supply chain complying with all relevant requirements and guidelines, it is possible for those affected by the unintended presence to bear all the associated costs. Similarly, where the precise source of the GMO cannot be ascertained, farmers affected by unintended presence will have difficulty identifying the party responsible and thus may have no legal redress to obtain compensation for any loss incurred.”
“The proposed cultivation of GM food crops in NSW is a train wreck waiting to happen,” said Mr Cohen. “It will be the death knell of this country’s clean, green agricultural marketing edge.
“Why the government is pushing a crop that the majority of farmers say they don’t want to grow and the majority of consumers say they don’t want to eat is a mystery to me.
“If our amendments are voted down today, it’s not just the farmers who will be exposed, our entire state’s food supply will be vulnerable to GM risks.” Mr Cohen said.
Further Information: Ian Cohen: 0409 989 466 or Nic Clyde: 0417 742 754
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