The Western Australia Farmers Federation will today address a Japanese
delegation opposed to genetically modified (GM) crops.

The Conservation Council of WA and a delegation from the Japanese Consumers
Union are calling on the State Government to maintain its moratorium on the
development of GM crops.

Members of the WA Conservation Council and members of the Japanese Consumers
Union yesterday presented a 20,000-strong petition to WA Agriculture and
Food Minister Kim Chance.

The petition voices concerns over the safety and environmental impacts of GM
foods.

Japan is WA's biggest customer for canola and cereal crops with exports
valued at $550 million a year.

The country currently imports about 146,000 tonnes of canola from WA -
representing about 50 per cent of Australia?s export canola.

Ten members of the Japanese Consumers Union, which has 3 million members,
travelled to WA this week to meet representatives of the State?s farming
community and Perth consumers to discuss market advantages of producing non
GM crops.

The group?s spokeswoman Michiyo Koketsu said the union previously bought
canola from Canada until they began growing GM varieties and she hoped
Australia did not follow that path.

?Japanese consumers have voiced a strong preference for non-GM products and
the union currently imports the majority of canola from Australia because of
its non-GM status,? Ms Koketsu said.

?If WA was to lift the moratorium and allow GM crops to be commercially
grown we may no longer be able to import canola from the state.?

Mr Chance said the State Government had no plans to remove the 10-year
moratorium on GM foods and had called on the Federal Government and Food
Standards Australia to tighten food labelling and increase health awareness
on GM foods.

?On a multinational basis our valued customers in Japan and our valued
Australian customers are saying there is a very clear rejection of GM
foods,? Mr Chance said.

?The State Government is taking this very seriously and at a bear minimum
will continue to call for renewed labelling on GM foods to better inform
consumers and give them a choice.?

Last week WA Premier Alan Carpenter called for the nationwide suspension of
approvals for foods from engineered crops until more health research was
carried out.

The farmers federation's Derek Clauson says he hopes to explain to the
delegation why GM crops are important for the state's farmers.

"It's a matter of working out the methodology whereby we can segregate GM
crops from non-GM crops but still not hold back the sort of technology that
farmers desperately need here in WA," he said.

www.ckeckbiotech.org