Application for proposed trials of GM canola in Western Australia

Monsanto have applied to the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) to do GM canola trials in up to 53 local government areas (LGA's) in Western Australia between mar 2011 and dec 2014. Application DIR 105.

The Regulator considers that there is negligible risk to health or the environment. The public has been given 42 days to put in submissions. In our opinion this is a woefully short amount of time for response given the amount of technical information that needs to be read.

The application and other information can be downloaded from the OGTR website at:
http://www.ogtr.gov.au/

The close for submissions is 26th of November!

We only found out about it on the 27th of October. We went to the Shire of Donnybrook-Balingup council meeting on the 27th Oct to voice our objections and ask some questions. The council voted 8/0 to adopt the precautionary principle and inform the OGTR that it opposes the trials.

We then started the Stop GM! campaign. Our first blow was to get a petition around the local area supporting the councils decision and returning this to the council.

Next we intend to write a submission to the OGTR. This is where we need your help - please write your own submission to the OGTR. The more of them the better.

Good luck.

Australian Government and Monsanto shareholders together in Intergrain

For those that don't know Intergrain Pty Ltd is the company set up in partnership with the Government that West Australians handed over 150 years worth of wheat varieties and intellectual property rights to. This is an appalling thing to have happened - it was the property of the people of Western Australia.

The question we have to ask is why was this done?

Now Monsanto has bought a 20% share in Intergrain with the Government the major shareholder. So the government is a shareholder in a GM research company and at the same time as making decisions about letting GM into Western Australia. Talk about a conflict of interest!

So as you can see the government is not unbiased on this issue - they are complicit.

Harass the Government over this. There SHOULD be a major inquiry. The longer everyone sits on their hands, the more likely this sort of thing will become commonplace. StopGM! wont be sitting down. Watch this space.

Ag Dept & GRDC building facilities for GM research

The Dept of Agriculture and Food with the Grains Research & Development Council(GRDC) are planning to build two new R&D facilities based at the Ag Departments Merridin research station.

In our view - a complete waste and abuse of taxpayers money!

You can read a bit about it here
http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/20100806/future-grains-research-focus-at-merredin\
.htm

Our first petition has been sent

On Monday we sent our first petition to the Shire of Donnybrook-Balingup (SW of Western Australia) in support of their decision to use the precautionary principle and oppose trials of GM canola in the area. This should then be forwarded to the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (Aust. Federal Govt).

Thanks to all those who showed their support in the short amount of time.

Welcome to the Stop GM! Campaign.

This is our first posting we're looking forward to reading all your comments on the GM issue. Lets keep it clean and do the job.

Best of luck to all.