European traders reject WA canola on GM grounds
Three European grain traders, AgroTrace, Holtermann and Eurograin, have sent a letter to WA Premier Colin Barnett stating that they will not buy Western Australian grain if GM canola is grown.
The letter, dated February 26, directly addresses the WA government’s motion to exempt Monsanto’s Roundup Ready® GM canola from restrictions on GM crops, which passed last month by a narrow margin. A copy of the letter was sent unsolicited to GM-free group Gene Ethics last weekend.
“Without the assurance that WA can supply canola free from GM contamination, we will be forced to reconsider sourcing canola from Western Australia, in order to remain responsive to our customers and abide by strict European GMO labelling laws and contamination thresholds,” the letter reads.
“While the oilseed industry claims it will be able to segregate non-GM and GM canola, the experience in Canada has shown that segregation is unlikely to be successful. The contamination of non-GM canola with GM material will be inevitable. There is also a danger that other important export crops such as wheat will be contaminated with GM material.”
Gene Ethics director Bob Phelps criticised the WA government and the Agriculture Minister’s failure to disclose the existence of the letter.
“Redman failed in his duty to mention possible market losses, despite asserting that markets are the state’s primary responsibility,” said Phelps.
“They hid the letter, which could have affected the vote that passed approval for GM canola by the slim margin of 26 votes to 24.”
Agriculture Minister Terry Redman denied that the letter had ever been received by their office.
“This letter was received for the first time in my office today, attached to a press release from Gene Ethics. It would be difficult to ‘hide’ a letter we had never seen before,” said Redman.
“I have spoken at length about WA’s international canola markets and reiterate that last year’s trial demonstrated that segregation is possible and WA can provide both GM and non-GM canola. Farmers are not going to grow something they cannot sell – it’s as simple as that.”
It is not clear exactly what volume of grain the three companies currently import from Western Australia, however WA’s largest grain exporter, CBH, confirmed that none of the three companies buy grain through them. “The grain crushers we deal with in Europe and Japan are very happy to continue buying Western Australian canola,” said CBH spokesperson Amber Anderson.
A similar letter was sent to the Agriculture Minister from Japan’s Seikatsu Club Consumer’s Co-operative Union, who import around 13 000 tonnes of non-GM canola annually.
Why would AgroTrace, Holtermann and Eurograin lie about the date? They have no reason to. They will just source their grain from elsewhere. If the person lying is Colin Barnett then that is a different deal.
A blatant lie by a political person is misleading not only the general public but making a farce of the political system. There should be another vote giving all the concerns from these consumers together with the Japanese concerns. Only from that vote would the true story be given. Consumers do not want GM food.
This is not the first time Terry Redman has “not received” documents if their airing in a timely manner would be detrimental to his GM push. Hundreds of petition signatures against GM canola from his own electorate were hand delivered to his office with the request they be tabled in parliment at the next available opportunity. They were not. Terry Redman should be sacked. His bulldozing GM through in spite of the biggest petition ever received by the W.A. government clearly showing farmers and consumers want our state GM Free is disgusting. One good reason to remain GM free is clearly illustrated by the article above.Redman is the leader of a department who have become a marketing arm for the most unethical corporation in the world (Monsanto). DAFWA have lied repeatedly to the public about the ability to segregate GM crops. It cant be segregated in the long term and will take 3 years to be able to deem the trials a segregation success! Redman knows this or he is totally ignorant of the nature of canola. DAFWA continue to assure us with taxpayer funded infomercials in Esperence at the Womens subcommittee seminar on GM crops, free creche provided. DAFWA even have the gall to create a “fact sheet “called Dispelling the Myths, which is a collection of myths in itself!! There needs to be a full inquiry into the corruption that has allowed the GM issue to progress this far. in Australia
Politicians are providing neither representation nor leadership in the question of GMOs. Whom are they serving?
The few independent animal feeding studies that have been able to take place have confirmed adverse effects in mammals: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/genetically-modified-soy_b_544575.html?ref=fb&src=sp
The majority of people do not want to buy or eat this stuff. Why grow it?
Maybe the three European grain traders, AgroTrace, Holtermann and Eurograin cant shower favours such as Monsanto’s?
One of Mr Redmans reasons for lifting the ban is to increase yield and profitability for farmers. And yet the fact show that the only commercial applications for genetically engineered crops is resistance to herbicide (Roundup) and the production of pesticide in the plant’s cells (Bt). There are no genetically engineered crops in production that increase yield or nutritional value. There have been many failed attempts, such as drought resistant plants only surviving during a drought but failing miserably during normal weather conditions. Efforts to increase yield and profitability are nothing more than a public relations stunt.
During the trails there were issues with segregation of GM grain and it was later revealed that CBH would not segregate GM and Non GM grains in future, just have a minimum tolerance level. However the publicity from Mr Redman and letters in reply to my emails state ” segregating and exporting GM canola was found to be successful” which deceives the public into believing that it has a choice. It has also now come to light that in letters dated February 26th, three European grain traders tell the WA Premier they will not buy WA grain if GM canola is grown here. These letters were not disclosed to the Lower House during the disallowance debate on March 10th. So now we know Mr Redman and Mr Barnett have been misleading the parliament, the public and have lost the state millions in export revenue.
GE seeds have failed on almost every account except to require farmers to buy more and more expensive inputs. As a farmer why would I choose a technology that has the potential to massively alter the landscape beyond our control? You just have to look back at history and of the cane toads, rabbits, cats, carp, thistles, foxes and prickly pear that were introduced into Australia. All of these resulted in environmental damage, all impossible to get rid of now.
Lets hope the Upper House supports the Ban and we can kick these greedy corrupt Liberal politicians out at the next election.