Gm Crop Expert At Free Forum

Newcastle Herald

Saturday April 26, 2008

GR

A FREE public forum will be held at Monte Pio in Maitland on May 5 to discuss biotechnology and some of the developments under way in this field.

Expert speakers will lead the forum, which aims to engage with the community on biotechnology issues and to encourage dialogue between the public and biotechnology researchers and developers on how different applications of biotechnology may be embraced or rejected by society.

As part of the Hunter Means Innovation Festival, the forum will focus on developments, applications and the prospects of biotechnology in the Hunter Region in areas such as bio-remediation and viticulture.

Dr Simon Robinson of CSIRO Plant Industry in South Australia will examine how gene technology is providing a range of new tools for agriculture.

"Scientists can now 'copy, cut and paste' DNA in the laboratory, leading to new diagnostics, faster plant breeding and the ability to make significantly improved crops through genetic modification [GM]," Dr Robinson said.

"The first generation of GM crops mostly had input traits such as herbicide tolerance and pest resistance, but new crops are being developed that will include product quality traits and will provide the basis for new agricultural products.

"This technology may also provide solutions to some of the problems we will encounter in the future with an increasing demand for global agricultural production while maintaining environmental sustainability.

"The area planted to GM crops is increasing each year and these crops are now grown in many countries.

"In Australia, the main GM crop is cotton, which has increased resistance to caterpillars. The GM cotton now accounts for up to 80 per cent of the crop and, with an integrated pest management system, it has resulted in significantly reduced pesticide use.

"GM crops take many years to develop and testing occurs continuously during their development.

"Each new GM crop needs to be thoroughly evaluated and effectively managed and in Australia the use of GM crops is highly regulated.

"On balance, current evidence suggests that eating GM crops poses no greater risk than eating food from conventionally bred crops."

Dr Mike Manefield, an expert in the use of biotechnology as a tool in bioremediation from the University of NSW, will provide an introduction to microbiology and bioremediation.

"I will also present some of the work we have done on developing technologies for the degradation of chlorinated compounds in soil and groundwater environments at the Botany Industrial Park, Sydney."

Dr Brent Jenkins, from Newcastle Innovation, will look at developments in the biotechnology sector in the Hunter.

A presentation will also be given by Darren Vogrig of CSIRO Education on what DNA is and what scientists are doing with it.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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