1.Expert warns of illegal GM papaya on EU market
2.Destroy GMO-tainted papaya crops, researcher says
3.Open-field trials contmainate Thailand's papaya crop
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1.Expert warns of illegal GM papaya on EU market
Food Navigator are reporting a warning from Richard Werran of the GM testing firm Cert ID that a wave of illegal GM papayas are coming into the EU.
http://www.foodnavigator.com/Financial-Industry/Expert-warns-of-illegal-GM-Papaya-on-EU-market
Here are just a few examples of what European Union checks have picked up in late June:
http://bit.ly/Mv8lXv
http://bit.ly/Mv8lXv
http://bit.ly/Mv8Aly
Werran told GMWatch that he thought fresh papaya, juices, and derivatives could all be affected. "It's a big problem."
The problem seems to have originated in each case with the Thai papaya crop. Although GM crops are not allowed in Thailand, large-scale contamination of papaya farms, apparently as a result of earlier field trials, has been a continuing problem and has caused problems for Thai exports before – see items 2 and 3.
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2.Destroy GMO-tainted papaya crops, researcher says
PONGPHON SARNSAMAK
The Nation, May 18 2012
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Destroy-GMO-tainted-papaya-crops-researcher-says-30182250.html
Academics yesterday called on the Agriculture Department to destroy farms growing Hawaiian papaya in Kanchanaburi province after a recent study found that these crops might be contaminated with genetically modified organisms (GMO).
The move came after a study conducted by Piyasak Chaumpluk from Chulalongkorn University's Department of Botany revealed on Wednesday that 29 samples of Hawaiian papaya tested in Kanchanaburi province were tainted.
"Tests show that papaya grown in 50-rai in Kanchanaburi province have GMO," Piyasak said. "The department should destroy these farms in order to prevent the contamination from spreading."
Piyasak said he had all the information ready, but did not want to make any of it public as it would affect the farmers. He also called on the department to compensate farmers whose farms would be destroyed, adding the authorities should not blame the farmers for this.
"I don't think they knew that the papaya seeds were tainted with GMO," he said.
He is also calling on the department to study the route of GMO-tainted products, from farms to fresh markets or supermarkets.
"We found that pollen from GMO-tainted papaya plants could have contaminated other papaya trees," he said.
Meanwhile, Greenpeace campaign coordinator for Southeast Asia Nattawika Ewsakul said so far the government had failed to control GMO contamination.
To date, the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry has used the 1964 Plant Quarantine Act to control GMO contamination in papaya, corn and yellow-bean farms.
"But the question is, why does the contamination still exist?" she asked. "It is because the government's measures have not been good enough."
Nattawika added that the government should pass the bio-safety bill, the draft for which has been languishing for the past two years.
"If government does nothing to control GMO contamination, then farmers will end up having to shoulder added costs of testing their crops for GMO," she said.
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3.Greenpeace files suit to end open-field trials
APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
Bangkok Post, October 26 2006
http://www.bangkokpost.com/261006_News/26Oct2006_news11.php
Greenpeace Southeast Asia yesterday petitioned the Administrative Court to revoke the Agriculture Department's order allowing the open-field trials of genetically modified (GM) papaya. The group also filed a petition with the court against the department and its director Adisak Sreesunpagit for negligence in preventing the leak of GM seeds from its research station in Khon Kaen in 2004.
Khon Kaen Horticultural Research Station, which conducted a controlled field trial of GM papaya, failed to prevent the leak of GM seeds. The incident caused the Agriculture Department to eliminate all GM papaya at the station.
"The department and related government agencies failed to act to protect the public interest. GM papaya continues to contaminate our environment," Greenpeace campaigner Patwajee Srisuwan said yesterday.
She alleged GM papaya was found in many provinces such as Kamphaeng Phet, Kalasin, Maha Sarakham, Rayong and Chaiyaphum, even though the Agriculture Department had assured that it had destroyed all of it.
Open-field trials of all GM crops were banned in 2001 by the cabinet for fear of possible cross-pollination between GM and non-GM plants, but the department and a group of papaya farmers in the Northeast managed to get the ban lifted.
Mr Adisak said earlier this year the trials would be a way to help the government evaluate whether the farming of GM crops harmed the environment.
GM technology allows scientists to add or remove genes across species to build desirable traits for crops, including better resistance to pests and drought. In the case of papaya, a viral gene was injected into the fruit, which subsequently developed immunity to the virus which causes ring spot.
However, biosafety advocates fear that GM pollen will contaminate non-GM crops and this would affect Thai exports of farm produce to countries that impose a ban on GM products.
Meanwhile, Banpot Napompeth, chairman of the National Biological Control Research Centre, said the disparity in views between different groups over GM crops had delayed the launch of the biosafety law.
He said the panel would not be able to present the draft biosafety law to the interim government during its term.
"I think it will be difficult to make progress on the law in one year. But we have to make it clear the law is important as it's a tool to secure safety," he said.