Premier urges halt to GM food approvals
Sydney Morning Herald, June 2 2008
http://news.smh.com.au/national/premier-urges-halt-to-gm-food-approvals-20080602-2krv.html

West Australian Premier Alan Carpenter has called for an immediate halt to the approval of all genetically-modified (GM) foods in Australia.

Mr Carpenter also is asking for federal government support to enforce better labelling of foods containing GM ingredients.

He wants Australia's national food regulator, Food Standards Australia New Zealand, to stop approving any more GM foods for human consumption until independent scientific trials prove their safety.

"I find it unbelievable and unacceptable that the national food regulator relies principally on the say-so of the GM companies when assessing GM foods as safe to eat," Mr Carpenter said.

"WA consumers want and deserve to know what they are feeding their families and they expect foods containing GM are not only labelled as such, but there is monitoring and enforcement of the labelling."

Mr Carpenter said currently GM foods are either unlabelled or not required to be labelled.

WA Agriculture Minister Kim Chance and Health Minister Jim McGinty will write to their federal counterparts requesting their support to change the current standards.

Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke and federal Health Minister Nicolas Roxon were being sought for comment.

NSW and Victoria have allowed GM canola from this year, but WA currently has a moratorium on the commercial production of all GM crops.

Opposition Leader Troy Buswell said it was "ridiculous" to prevent commercial trials of GM canola in WA.

"We live in a state where farmers are struggling to stay on the land and run viable farms, and yet we have a premier who denies them access to at least commercial trials of crops like GM canola," Mr Buswell told reporters.

"It is plain and simple ridiculous and it is not in the long term interests of the agricultural sector of Western Australia."

But anti-GM group Gene Ethics has given Mr Carpenter its full backing.

"We join the premier in calling on all Australian governments, through the Health Ministerial Council, to swiftly meet the public's rights to safe food and to know a food is GM," Gene Ethics Director Bob Phelps said.

"It is 'unbelievable and unacceptable' that FSANZ relies mostly on GM company data to say GM foods are safe to eat."

Supermarkets Coles, Foodland and Woolworths have introduced policies to restrict or completely ban GM ingredients from their house-brands.