Why should Australian states that have a moratrium on GM canola continue to suffer contamination by a GM crop they've banned - not least, when it delivers higher costs, lower yields & market loss!
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0509/S00040.htm

EXCERPTS: "These are not difficult steps. Eradicate the trial sites, ensure no ongoing contamination and close the door to contaminated seed imports.

"The GE industry has proved itself as unable to control its GE material as it is unwilling to take responsibility for its failures. This is not the kind of industry that Australia should be supporting."
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Eradicate National Variety Trials to stem GE contamination
GREENPEACE MEDIA RELEASE, Wednesday September 21, 2005

The National Variety Trials being used for the development of new conventional canola varieties must be destroyed because genetic contamination has been discovered on 35 Australian farms involved in the trials, said Greenpeace today.

"Fortunately, this contamination is controllable," said Jeremy Tager, GE campaigner with Greenpeace. "The sites are identified, the varieties are known and there are well established methods for destruction of contaminated crops and ensuring that ongoing contamination does not occur."

But in addition to destroying the trials, Tager said, "we must deal with the underlying problems that have allowed this massive contamination to occur."

"It is unbelievable that seed companies and importers such as Cargill would allow distribution of seeds into GE free states without certifying that those seeds are free of GE, particularly when the seeds are sourced from the heavily contaminated seed markets of North America," said Tager.

Any company importing seed from North America knows that contamination with GE is a probability. Any company that fails to test and certify its seed as free of GE before allowing it to be sold in Australia is negligent, and may well be in breach of state laws that ban the cultivation of GE crops.

This is the second time Cargill has been caught out for importing and sowing contaminated seeds. [Last May Cargill was forced to destroy 2 trial sites, mistakenly planted with imported GE seeds.]
http://www.gmcontaminationregister.org/index.php?content=re_detail&gw_id=45®=cou.23&inc=0&con=0&cof=0&year=0&handle2_page=

"State laws need to be fully enforced", Tager said. "Obviously, they also need to be made more explicit: seeds must be certified as free of GE before they can be sold or sown in States that prohibit the planting of GE crops."

"These are not difficult steps," said Tager. "Eradicate the trial sites, ensure no ongoing contamination and close the door to contaminated seed imports."

"Any suggestion that our response to such negligence and incompetence should be to ratify genetic contamination beggars belief," Tager said.

"The GE industry has proved itself as unable to control its GE material as it is unwilling to take responsibility for its failures. This is not the kind of industry that Australia should be supporting."

Contact:
Greenpeace GE campaigner Jeremy Tager 07 3892 7538 or 0438 679 263
Media Officer Carolin Wenzel 02 9263 0358 or 0417 668 957