August 19, 2011

 

Australian town reports GM rapeseed spill

 

 

Western Australia's Williams town has reported last week a genetically modified (GM) rapeseed spill around the area, sparking renewed calls for the technology ban while potential legal ramifications are resolved.

 

It comes on the back of claims of contamination of an organic farm by a neighbouring GM crop expected to go to the Western Australia Supreme Court.

 

About 15 tonnes of GM rapeseed spilled in the heart of a self-declared GM-free zone along the Perth to Albany Highway.

 

The road train, which was carrying 22 tonnes of GM canola from the Cranbrook CBH receival site to Pinjarra, suffered a seizure in the front differential which sparked a fire that melted a hole in the bottom of the lead trailer, causing spillage onto the road and into the gutter.

 

The Safe Food Foundation said the spill highlighted the complex network of legal responsibilities that needed to be unravelled and understood, given the introduction of GM rapeseed into Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.

 

The foundation, which is already backing a Western Australia organic farmer in his proposed legal battle against his GM rapeseed growing neighbours, said it had retained Slater and Gordon lawyers to provide legal advice and support for GM-free growers.

 

The foundation's director, Scott Kinnear, said 12 graingrowers in the region near the spill had declared themselves GM free and were negotiating contracts with Japan.

 

He said growers had a right to know who was responsible for clean-up and monitoring costs and other legal implications, including who would pay compensation.

 

Kinnear said it was possible the truck driver, the trucking company, CBH, and the Western Australia's Department of Food and Agriculture and other parties, "may all have some legal liability for the cost of clean-up and monitoring across many years and for loss and damage should contamination cause loss of GM-free status and loss of income".

 

CBH said all appropriate protocols were followed to remove the grain and prevent any contamination "in the safest manner possible".

 

The bulk grain handling co-operative said it immediately deployed a crew to assess the risk and assist with the clean-up while a professional waste removal company was engaged to manage the task.

 

CBH said the rapeseed, gravel and topsoil from the surrounding area were removed and the site clean-up would continue to ensure the risk of contamination was mitigated.

 

But Williams graingrower, Janette Liddelow, a long-standing critic of GM technology who farms within a few hundred metres of where the spill occurred, renewed calls for Western Australia Agriculture Minister, Terry Redman, to reinstate a GM moratorium.

 

Liddelow said the truck spill proved what anti-GM campaigners had been saying about potential contamination.

 

She said the exemption order allowing GM rapeseed and cotton to be grown in Western Australia needed to be reversed while the potential legal implications were sorted out.

 

The technology's patent holder, Monsanto, played down the incident.