A campaign for the continued availability of safe, unadulterated raw milk in Australia.
Gene Editing and Genetically Modified Organisms in Australia
““I believe that any molecular biologist who is clearly true to their science, their field, there is no way that they would suggest that the new gene editing tools are not a genetic modification procedure.”
”The problem with all the gene editing tools, regardless of which one you are using, is that in addition to bringing about the intended change, what all are prone to are what we call off-target effects. So in other words they can introduce genetic alterations - mutations - that could inadvertently result in novel allergens or toxins being produced.”
- Dr Michael Antoniou”
“…There is widespread consumer rejection to GMOs...”
yet new genetic modification (GM) techniques will be used in our food chain and environment with no safety testing and no labelling, despite risk assessment of GM plants deemed insufficient. The Australian Senate voted on 13 November 2019 despite Senator Janet Rice’s passionate plea that the senate motion be disallowed. The Senate amendments now allow most animals, plants and microbes modified using CRISPR and similar techniques to be released into the environment and food chain without any risk assessment.
The changes effectively turn Australia – our ecosystems and our health – into a giant genetic engineering experiment.
Slow Food in Australia had previously called on all members and supporters to make their voices heard. They said the deregulation could potentially kill our organic farming industry which is growing at 16% per annum. They also mentioned that Freedom of Information documents revealed that our food regulator, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) also intends to deregulate these techniques, further increasing the risk on undetected genetically modified organisms freely circulating in the environment and the food chain, with unpredictable and potentially great risk to public health.
GM may also have consequences for raw dairy food safety.
The Slow Food article said that some of our key export markets including China and global non-GM certifiers regard the new genetic engineering techniques as GM and have a zero tolerance for the presence of unapproved GMOs in their imports. Thailand has joined other countries and banned glyphosate, an ingredient of a chemical spray called Roundup, often used to grow GMO crops.
Australia is now one of the first countries in the world to deregulate several new genetic modification (GM) techniques in animals, plants and microbes.. Anyone could use techniques like CRISPR to genetically modify animals without the regulator or the rest of us knowing.
"Scientists and industry know the new GM methods are flawed but ambition, short-sightedness and profit motives drive them to back deregulation despite the hazards, risks and costs to others."
"Sidelining the Regulator before the new GM game even begins would create a free for all where industry and science players can make up their own rules, without independent oversight”, said Gene Ethics director Bob Phelps.
Should animals that produce raw milk for human consumption be allowed to consume GM feed or GM pasture like ryegrass? In addition, consumers will not know for certain if the fruits, veggies or processed products on the supermarket shelf, contributes to, or subtracts from their health. Watch the short 2 minute video below.
Video: A range of new genetic modification (GM) techniques may soon be used in our food chain and environment with no safety testing and no labelling. Take action!: https://friendsoftheearthmelbourne.good.do/stopthegovernmentderegulatingwmds/Email_your_elected_representatives/. Video by Friends of the Earth Australia
So-called ‘good reasons’ to allow GM
““It would be highly unfortunately I think, if there was a decision made now that there was no risk associated with these things, therefore there was no regulations and no labelling. And later to find out that there might actually be a problem. We’re only now starting to look at the potential effects, and yet they are coming to a supermarket shelf near you very soon.”
- Dr Judy Carman, Institute of Health and Environmental Research, Adelaide”
Food security, disease resistance, insect resistance and drought tolerance are all given as so-called ‘good reasons’ to allow this, but existing industrial agriculture systems are inherently broken, and with genetic modification, scientists are attempting to fix an approach to farming that is reaching its expiry date in terms of social license.
AgriFutures Australia is the trading name for Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation (RIRDC), a statutory authority of the Federal Government established by the Primary Industries Research and Development Act 1989. Page 24 of the Emerging technologies in agriculture: Consumer perceptions around emerging Agtech document, shows that gene editing, synthetic biology (lab grown meat and milk), and nanomaterials are noted as “potentially high risk” in terms of negative consumer perceptions. Both government and industry is intently aware of the risks, at a time where there is a growing momentum for a return to what consumers perceive as more natural production systems (e.g. smaller scale, without use of large equipment or synthetic outputs).
The document also shows that industry knows that agriculture’s social license is at stake, and that without it, the farming sector run many risks.
We need to restore confidence in the farming community and farming livelihoods and ensure the environment will be protected, not destroyed.
At the moment government policies are making it very challenging, or impossible for some Australian consumers to participate in direct farm-to-consumer relationships, so they can access the foods and production systems of their choice.
Agrifutures’ Agriculture - a $100b sector by 2030? document, also shows industry framework and the strategies that is considered to push growth, but these are likely to be severely challenged by the drought and multiple sustainability crises. It is looking less likely that Australia will be Asia’s food bowl.
Regenerative Farming: we already have the solutions
Regenerative farming shows that we already know how to remedy our food and farming systems in a natural wholesome way. Beneficial soil microbiology like mycorrhizal fungi makes soil fertile, and actually protects plants against pathogens and diseases. A green, growing ‘armour on the soil’ and heathy soil microbiology, can increase soil water holding capacity, achieve drought tolerance and sequester carbon back into the soil. A large range of different plants also encourage a large range of soil microbiology, and increases a healthy biodiversity of pest predators, and a healthy ecosystem with pristine waterways. Weeds can be crowded out in these diverse pastures when rotationally grazed by ruminants. Establishing plants with year-round living roots is what will mitigate the risk of dustbowls in the future.
We can avoid the adulteration of raw dairy by avoiding agrochemicals, and unnatural ‘frankenfoods’ that may harbour some kind of unknown or secret ‘trojan horse’. The effects of introducing unregulated GMOs may have unwanted consequences for the raw milk movement. See the articles below:
South Australia announced it will lift its ban and allow genetically modified crops in December 2019, despite heavy criticism saying it is “stupid and dangerous”. The law reform could see the cotton industry swoop on South Australia and the growing of genetically modified cotton varieties, most which would be grown with the herbicide Roundup with its active ingredient glyphosate.
EDIT: South Australia will stay GM-Free until 2025.
The recent 60 Minutes ‘Water Rats’ story and the ABC Q&A story on drought shows that there is a mismanagement of commoditised water systems on a grand scale, that is creating hardship and crises for farming communities. Struggling farmers are angry because almond farms are given water priority, while other livelihoods evaporate. What will the addition of GM crops in South Australia mean for our food security? GM technologies may add to Australia’s burdens in multiple ways. There are many people who don’t consider nut mylks or GM products ‘food’. A new GM cottonseed has just been approved in the US, and there are already questions about lack of appropriate toxicity testing, with knowledge of potential harm coming to the surface.
Related Articles:
Technical Review of the Gene Technology Regulations 2001 - Office of the Gene Technology Regulator
“Transgenic” Cows that Produce Human Milk
Gene-editing risks are still too great to warrant a change in the law
Fake Food, Fake Meat: Big Food’s Desperate Attempt to Further the Industrialisation of Food
Opinion: ‘I wouldn’t touch GM technology with a barge pole’
The Case Against GMOs: Cautionary Tales From Uganda
Soil fertility, biodiversity and the gut microbiome
Study: Plant Diversity Leads to More Carbon Stored in the Soil
ABC Landline - Future Soil: Excess carbon regenerating soils
Could gene drive technology help control weeds in Australia?
Cruelty Concerns for Gene Edited Animals
Genetically modified corn affects its symbiotic relationship with non-target soil organisms
Gene-Editing Unintentionally Adds Bovine DNA, Goat DNA, and Bacterial DNA, Mouse Researchers Find
‘Self-Feeding’ Corn Grows in Southern Appalachia
Genetic modification law reform could see cotton industry swoop on South Australia
Risk assessment of GM plants deemed insufficient
Struggling Aussie farmers enraged as almond farms given water priority
Why government authority is causing a water crisis for farmers
Farmers sue the Murray Darling Basin Authority
Agrifutures - a $100b sector by 2030? and direct link
With the walls closing in, regenerative farming is a way forward for agriculture
Australia's organic industry could be sacrificed for the sake of unregulated GMO tech
Murray-Darling water and farmland is being bought up big by corporate business goFARM
Gene Technology Amendment (2019 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2019 https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2019L00573
Lobby groups push to stop GM leglislation change
Federal Government and opposition sign off on uncontrolled genetic experiment