Letters to the editor - May 30

I want to reassure them: lifting the South Australian genetically-modified crop moratorium will not impact their products or the way they label their ingredients.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand has ruled that foods not containing any novel DNA or novel protein, and do not have an altered characteristic, and hence are not GM, are not required to be labelled GM.

Therefore, there would be no change required to their product label, just as there is no label requirement now, even though they are using canola oil that is more than likely derived in part from GM canola crops.

Lifting the GM moratorium will give every South Australian farmer access to broader, more environmentally sustainable and more efficient farming options. In the future it will give consumers healthier options, such as oil with improved cooking qualities and less saturated fats.

Just before the election was called on April 10, the government gutted regulation of the new genetic-modification processes known as CRISPR SDN1 gene editing.

The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator was sidelined from its job of expertly reviewing and licensing all GM research and commercial use.

We will ask this parliament to reverse Minister Bridget McKenzie's reckless decision. She applauded the loss of independent expert assessment and licensing of GM as a way to fast track human cancer research.

But her decision also allows any new GM animals, plants and microbes to be genome edited for any reason, without the OGTR being required to look into them.

Several public research Institutional Biosafety Committees opposed the deregulation on safety grounds. They included the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research IBC, Victoria University IBC, Westmead Children's Medical Research Institute and Hospital IBC, and the University of Wollongong IBC.

CRISPR and other new GM methods were invented less than five years ago, so they have scant history of safe use. Yet microorganisms, animals or plants created from scratch or genetically amended for any purpose could be rushed into our food supply and environment without safety assessment or labelling.

With deregulation we will never know what may arrive. But emerging scientific data shows the new CRISPR and other GM techniques are much less accurate, precise and safe than industry claims.

Deregulation also risks export markets.

While Australia deregulates, the European Union's top court has ruled that CRISPR poses similar risks to the older GM techniques and must therefore be safety assessed.

The federal parliament must review and then reverse CRISPR SDN1 deregulation.

Regardless of the fact farmers gain benefits from using genetic modification technology, they have failed to convince the Australian public or our overseas importers of Australian food that its OK to consume GM food.

Farmers, please start eating GM food and convince us it's OK. Please show us a petition signed by the great farmers of Australia that they are eating GM food.

Regardless of the fact that there may not be cross contamination at facilities that handle GM and non-GM foods or crops, a food manufacturer cannot claim GM-free if they get supplies from that facility, under our labelling laws.