Why don't these people go and do something useful? There are plenty of important issues that need the input of zealots. But GM ain't one of them!

If you consult anyone who has worked in the bulk handling industry (non management) they will be quick to tell you how they struggle just to keep truck loads of wheat and barley out of the canola. Let alone trying to keep truck loads of canola out of the canola! GM is here to stay, the only true segregation moving forward will be non GM as Australia does not have a supply chain that can adequately support segregation. Pro or Anti GM these are basic facts! For the record I am a fence sitter, GM has its obvious benefits but its future is largely unknown…? We can carry on all we like but its here now for good. Good/ bad/ otherwise? only time will tell.

Funny. Seems as if 90% of the Canadian crop is GM and they sell their crop. And there is nobody dropping dead from eating it. And the federal regulators around the world have seen that it is safe. Billions of tonnes of material has been consumed by real people without a single, validated, adverse reaction. Nothing like a vocal minority attempting to force their personal crusade onto the general public.

I wonder where "Farmer" is getting his evidence to say that no-one was dropping dead from eating GM canola. But with the massive increase in allergies across all age groups Canadians are seriously concerned. In May 2008 they began to formally record base-level allergy data (something more than the hospital admission statistics we keep here in Australia I understand).

Indeed, there have been no studies, anywhere in the world, to verify that GM food has been safe to eat. This was formally established in the Senate Estimates on 22/10/2008. I went to an allergy symposium at the Royal Children's Hospital in Victoria earlier last week. The 'world renowned' US expert was joking(?!!) about how everyone in the US had allergies. Doctors, epidemiologists and mothers were at that symposium. Now they know more about GM 'food'. I'm so grateful that Crop Watch are monitoring for GM canola. GM messes have been cleaned up in Tassie - I'm sure they can be cleaned up here. Mothers are Demystifying Genetic Engineering www.madge.org.au info@madge.org.au

For those that fence sit until the first person drops dead or until there are irrefutable links established between GM & cancer, asthma, allergies etc. now that the genes are out there, we cannot get them back. There has been little or no long term or credible non biased testing of GM crops. I find this deeply worrying.

He's a funny farmer alright! And obviously doesn't have a clue as to the situation in Canada. Twenty five years and Monsanto still trying to get GM into Europe. Where have you been Farmer? Three hundred million dollars worth of Canadian exports of wheat lost because of GM. As for nobody dying---Try the Showa Denko tryptathon disaster where twenty five people died and fifteen hundred and more were totally disabled in Japan as a result of Genetic Engineering. You must be asleep at the wheel or a Monsanto stooge!

Don't you just love posts like that of Tim? No facts. No evidence. Just sheer unadulterated predudice! GM has been around for over twenty five years and so far, despite billions of dollars being spent, only four crops have emerged, Soy, Cotton, Canola, and Corn, with only two traits: herbicide tolerance and inbuilt insect toxins. The empty promises of drought and salt tolerant crops, and more nutritious, healthier, or long shelf life foods, will fail. These words are not those of some scatterbrained activist, but those of one of Australia's own, Alan Chartres, previously chief science adviser to the Australian National Water Commission. Not one independent scientific report can be found which supports the view that G M has produced the "bountiful crops" mantra being sung by Monsanto's propaganda, but there is a wealth of evidence detailing the world wide problems created by GM. Look up "Problems with GM Crops" It should frighten the life out of any farmers son.

Before using Canadian farmers as an example to proceed with GM crops in Australia, why not read (on line) the report by Canada's National Farmers Union (NFU) on the proposal to grow GM crops on Prince Edward Island. The farmers advised against it, stating: "ten years after the introduction of these seeds, we stand mired in the worst farm income crisis in Canada's history". The Vice-President of Canada's NFU said earlier this year that costs per hectare for GM farmers are three times those of conventional farmers. Or, the interview in "Grain" magazine (also on line) with the Research Director of the NFU, Darrin Qualman. He said because of the high input costs GM farmers were relying on subsidies, off-farm income and debt to stave off insolvency. And, the only reason GM canola acreage is increasing in Canada is that herbicide-resistant crops allow a single farmer to manage a larger acreage and, as Canadian GM farmers are getting lower returns per acre, expansion is necessary for survival. Canola acreage may be increasing, but Canada now has less farmers. I'll bet those statements don't appear in Monsanto's promotional material for GM crops. It is also very tiresome to repeatedly read unsubstantiated claims about the safety of GM foods. These have always been unlabelled in Canada and the USA, and there has been no way of tracking any effects these foods may have. If GM companies are so confident of the safety of their foods, why do they lobby governments against comprehensive labelling of GM foods and ingredients?

It is a lamentable part of the human condition that most folks can't see what they don't want to see. Once they've fallen for an oft repeated biotech mantra, nothing will change their mind. Take note - independent scientific evidence is confirming the health dangers from ingesting GM constructs . . . http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GmMaizeReducesMiceFertility.php Right from the beginning, the biotech industry strategy has been to contaminate. For while, until it could no longer be denied, the industry claimed it was not an issue. Sure as little birdies fly, once these GM plants are out there, you will get contamination. No matter if it is wind, birds, bees, carelessness or deliberate sabotage, you will get contamination! Now the biotechs call for allowable contamination . . this is an outrage. GE farmers want 'freedom of choice'. Thereby removing choice from organic farmers, and all those who wish to be GE free. Ask yourself why a few farmers, many scientists, agricultural bureaucrats and politicians have sold us down the drain! At the behest of giant biotech corporations.

It amazes me that a handful of people (outside of those receiving financial benefit from the GM industry) still believes GM is safe despite the mounting evidence that GM is harmful. Last week it was revealed that a long-term feeding study commissioned by the Austrian Health Ministry and carried out by Veterinary University Vienna found that mice fed Monsanto’s genetically modified corn (NK 603 x MON 810) caused statistically significant lower fertility and smaller litter size and pup body weight compared to mice fed with non-GM corn. This study confirms the findings of Dr. Irina Ermakova of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2005, who found that rats fed GM soy produced offspring which were weak and had a much higher mortality rate than rats fed non-GM soy. The CSIRO’s GM pea debacle, where lung damage was caused in mice, should by itself have resulted in a global change of policy on safety testing of GM crops. It’s absurd that GM crops are not required to go through rigorous, independent, peer-reviewed, long-term, four-phase clinical trials. Furthermore, the rate of allergies, infertility, anti-biotic resistance and immune system related illnesses have skyrocketed since the introduction of GM into the food supply, particularly in North America where most of the GM crops are grown. This is exactly what FDA scientists warned could happen, but their concerns were ignored and GM food was approved without the requirement for safety testing. And the dramatic increase in illness has come from only a few GM crops. Imagine just how devastating it would be if GM crops were to become widespread.

GM food quite simply is genetically vandalised food, which is why it's so harmful. It's impossible for the current crude, random and genetically damaging technologies used in DNA manipulation to create a correct and safe genetic structure between different species (in the unlikely case that such a structure even exists). The GM manipulation process can cause massive changes in the natural functioning of a plant's DNA. Native genes can be mutated, deleted, permanently turned off or on, and hundreds may change their levels of expression. The transgene can become truncated, fragmented, mixed with other genes, inverted or multiplied, and the GM protein produced may have unintended attributes with harmful side effects. Of course, the GM industry is doing everything possible to avoid discussing these facts.