On Sunday 11 October 2009, the Adelaide Showground Farmers Market hosted a GM Food debate between Professor Mark Tester of the Australian Centre for Plant functional Genomics and Dr. Judy Carman, Epidemiologist and Biochemist, and Director of the Institute of Health and Environmental Research.
Professor Mark Tester described himself as being green and concerned about the environment. Whilst he did believe that some of the practices used in genetically modifying food crops were dubious - such as the practice of inserting genes from a soil bacterium into a plant - he envisioned GM crops as a means of feeding the world’s poor and solving agricultural problems. He believed that patented GM seeds would be accessible to Third World farmers in the future.
Dr Judy Carman’s presentation was, however, more detailed and specific. Rather than talk about what GM crops and foods hope to offer the world in the future, she focused on the GM foods that are currently on our supermarket shelves. She spoke about how our food regulator approves GM food on the basis of information supplied by the companies that apply for approval of their GM foods. Dr Carman outlined the gold standard of determining if something is safe to ingest, often used for pharmaceuticals, contrasting this with the inadequate testing procedures used by the companies that own the GM patents.
As an epidemiologist, Dr Carman explained why it is difficult to ascertain if the public health in countries such as the US - that have produced GM food for more than 10 years - have been impacted by the introduction of GM foods. GM food is largely untested on a rigorous and independent basis due to the legal difficulties in obtaining GM seed for research purposes.
Whether GM seed will ever be affordable and accessible to Third World farmers is yet to be seen. Dr Carman gave examples of how non-GM Canadian canola growers had been contaminated due to no fault of their own. Even unintentional GM contamination of crops results in a loss to the farmer due to the patent holder making claim to the GM component.
During question time it was obvious that the public’s concerns had not been quelled by Professor Tester. Professor Tester is a plant specialist and therefore may not have been able to address the public’s concerns as they were out of his range of expertise, whereas Dr. Carman’s knowledge in the fields of biochemistry and epidemiology and her experience in public health proved invaluable, and allowed her to cast light on possible environmental and health risks.
Towards the end of question time Professor Tester offered Dr. Carman the possible opportunity of conducting independent testing on the GM seeds that he is developing. If Professor Tester is true to his word, this is a great outcome.
Professor Mark Tester described himself as being green and concerned about the environment. Whilst he did believe that some of the practices used in genetically modifying food crops were dubious - such as the practice of inserting genes from a soil bacterium into a plant - he envisioned GM crops as a means of feeding the world’s poor and solving agricultural problems. He believed that patented GM seeds would be accessible to Third World farmers in the future.
Dr Judy Carman’s presentation was, however, more detailed and specific. Rather than talk about what GM crops and foods hope to offer the world in the future, she focused on the GM foods that are currently on our supermarket shelves. She spoke about how our food regulator approves GM food on the basis of information supplied by the companies that apply for approval of their GM foods. Dr Carman outlined the gold standard of determining if something is safe to ingest, often used for pharmaceuticals, contrasting this with the inadequate testing procedures used by the companies that own the GM patents.
As an epidemiologist, Dr Carman explained why it is difficult to ascertain if the public health in countries such as the US - that have produced GM food for more than 10 years - have been impacted by the introduction of GM foods. GM food is largely untested on a rigorous and independent basis due to the legal difficulties in obtaining GM seed for research purposes.
Whether GM seed will ever be affordable and accessible to Third World farmers is yet to be seen. Dr Carman gave examples of how non-GM Canadian canola growers had been contaminated due to no fault of their own. Even unintentional GM contamination of crops results in a loss to the farmer due to the patent holder making claim to the GM component.
During question time it was obvious that the public’s concerns had not been quelled by Professor Tester. Professor Tester is a plant specialist and therefore may not have been able to address the public’s concerns as they were out of his range of expertise, whereas Dr. Carman’s knowledge in the fields of biochemistry and epidemiology and her experience in public health proved invaluable, and allowed her to cast light on possible environmental and health risks.
Towards the end of question time Professor Tester offered Dr. Carman the possible opportunity of conducting independent testing on the GM seeds that he is developing. If Professor Tester is true to his word, this is a great outcome.
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