The Tasmanian Greens today called on the State Government to release
any research it had done into the national and international marketing
benefits to the State?s Brand and economy of the current moratorium on
genetically engineered food crops, following assertions by pro-GE advocates
that the moratorium has not benefited farmers.
Greens Shadow Primary Industries spokesperson Kim Booth MHA said that
the Greens had always advocated that the five year State moratorium should
be utilised to have such market research conducted in order for there to be
real data available to contribute to further evaluation of the ban on GE
crops, and that if the government has missed the boat by not having done so
then Tasmanians will have been let down drastically.

?The government must now release research quantifying the benefits to
the Tasmanian economy, both now and into the future that are brought to us
by our internationally significant GE-free status,? Mr Booth said.

?The Greens have always advocated that the five years of our current
moratorium should provide a good opportunity to conduct research into
national and international markets to ascertain the value of our GE free
status on the State?s Brand as a whole, as well as a marketing tool to
secure lucrative high-value niche markets in Japan and Europe, where the
consumer want guaranteed access to GE free food.?

?It is all very easy for Biotechnology companies, who profit from
genetically engineered crops through seed and chemical sales, to claim that
moratoriums have not benefited farmers while attempting to lobby governments
to change legislation to allow the proliferation of genetically engineered
food crops, without having to refer to any specific example.?

?Hopefully the State Labor government has acted to ensure that such
ongoing national and international research is underway, so that the true
market value and benefit to farmers and other contributors to the Tasmanian
economy can be ascertained and evaluated, especially given the imminent
Parliamentary Inquiry into the moratorium.?

?The government needs to protect Tasmanian farmers from the serious
threat posed to their future by the Biotech companies who will profit from
breaking the protection that the GE ban brings, and we must be able to
evaluate the impact of that loss to the State?s overall Clean, Green Brand,?
Mr Booth said.


[tas.greens.org.au]