The safety and credibility of GMO research in Western Australia is being questioned by members of the Wheatbelt community.
Locals are concerned the so-called "state-of-the-art centre" is falling into disrepair, eroding public confidence in GM research in the state.
EXCERPT: “At informal gatherings and at the football and things like that this it is a topic of conversation and at the moment it’s seen as a bit of a joke and a waste of money.
“It’s really visible to anyone on Goldfields Road or Great Eastern Highway driving past that the facility is in a really damaged condition.
“It’s embarrassing, the netting is down, the place is in disarray and they have no experienced staff.”
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Doubt cast over safety of GM research centre in WA
Olivia Garnett
ABC, 11 June 2014
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-11/doubt-cast-over-credibility-of-merredin-gm-research-centre/5516456
The safety and credibility of genetically modified organism research in Western Australia is being questioned by members of the Wheatbelt community.
When the multi-million dollar GM research station was opened in 2011 in Merredin, 300 kilometres east of Perth, it boasted it was to be the nation's first multi-user, purpose-built facility to evaluate the benefits of new genetically modified crops such as GM wheat, barley, and lupins.
The ten year trial program is part of Western Australia's Department of Agriculture and Food's (DAFWA) New Genes for New Environments (NGNE) initiative.
Any activity that’s held on this facility has to be conducted with a license issued by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR).
Some Merredin locals are concerned the so-called "state-of-the-art centre" is falling into disrepair, eroding public confidence in GM research in the state.
“I’m not necessarily for GM but I am for research into GM,” says "Jill", who wishes to remain anonymous.
“Some people are horrified.
“At informal gatherings and at the football and things like that this it is a topic of conversation and at the moment it’s seen as a bit of a joke and a waste of money.
“It’s really visible to anyone on Goldfields Road or Great Eastern Highway driving past that the facility is in a really damaged condition.
“It’s embarrassing, the netting is down, the place is in disarray and they have no experienced staff.”
One of the standout safety features at this facility is the vast bird netting over the five hectare GM trial zone, which is supposed to fully contain the crops and prevent insects and animals spreading any seed.
A storm in January this year caused the bird netting to come loose.
“It was just left hanging and all blowing around for months and months.”
"Jill" thinks there's a very real possibility that GM wheat, which isn't commercialised anywhere in the world, has escaped from the trial zone to neighbouring properties.
“The problem is, when protocol is breached and people are taking machinery in and out there is every chance that seed can release.
“This is what is particularly worrying about this situation that seed can get out in machinery; you can’t ever find every wheat seed.”
"Jill" isn't a farmer but she knows plenty of grain producers in the Wheatbelt who are relying on findings from these GM trials to have the option to grow new GM crops down the track.
She also thinks the alleged mismanagement at the research station will make the perfect ammunition for the anti-GM lobby.
“If the research into GM is compromised through mismanagement or lack of protocols being followed, then that would set the whole GM debate back years.
“We don’t want to give anti-GM lobby a chance to beat up something and stop vital research.”
There are no GM trials currently planted at Merredin NGNE facilities.
DAFWA has received interest in use of the facilities at Merredin later this season.
The University of Adelaide has submitted an application to the OGTR which includes trials at NGNE Merredin and Katanning.
GRDC has publicly announced its intention to plant GM trials at NGNE in both Merredin and Katanning in 2015.
Dr Mark Sweetingham, DAFWA’s Grains Industry Executive Director, acknowledges the Merredin research facility appears run-down.
“I’m not surprised the community would think that way.
“Rather than race out and do a quick patch up job on it (the bird net), we’ve decided that because we’re trying to build this facility to provide a service to the grains industry in the next ten to fifteen years we’re looking at a complete re-engineering of the way we’re putting that net up and we’re dealing with a structural engineer at the moment.”
Dr Sweetingham is quick to reject "Jill"s suggestion that GM seed could’ve escaped from the trial site.
“There is no GM material on the site at the moment.
“We have strict protocols which we have been following.
“If any seed had been left behind it would’ve be buried deep in the soil and it would be germinating as a live, green plant seedling and under our protocols they are destroyed by herbicide as soon as they appear.
Dr Sweetingham admits he’s concerned about the perception in the community that the centre isn’t meeting expectations.
“We will do everything we can to reassure the Merredin community, the Western Australian grains industry and the WA community more broadly that everything happening on this it is absolutely as it should be.”