Illustration: Harry Afentoglou

by Elizabeth Farrelly
The Sydney Morning Herald

The West Australian Minister for Agriculture, Terry Redman, wants to redefine “organic” to accommodate genetic engineering. Well he might wish it, since the legal battle brewing there over contamination of organic crops by genetically modified ones could easily blow right back onto his turf. Far scarier, though, is the environmental blowback, which could knock all these little old floods and cyclones into a cocked hat.

Steve Marsh is an organic farmer in Kojonup, four hours south-east of Perth. Or that’s what he thought he was. So did the certifiers. Then, last December, the nightmare came true. Marsh’s wheat and oats began testing 70 per cent positive for novel DNA and he was stripped of certification. A year earlier, following approval by the Gene Technology Regulator, the WA government approved commercialisation of GM, or ”Roundup Ready”, canola – although their own fact sheet at the time cited a United Nations report that “since the advent of GM canola in Canada farmers can no longer grow organic canola in western Canada.”

Read the Full Article Here: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/danger-lies-on-the-gm-food-road-20110209-1amy1.html