Seeds of Discontent: Monsanto defends genetic modification practices

AT DERRINALLUM, in Victoria, Australia, prosperity comes courtesy of a nearby volcano called Mount Elephant. Over the past 10,000 years, its spent lava has weathered into a rich brown topsoil. But John Sheehan is one of a rapidly growing number of Victorian farmers for whom such riches of the earth are not enough. This year, he and others like him plan to enhance their natural resources with modern technology.

Seed-drilling machinery on the Derrinallum property Sheehan manages works day and night across the flat crop-land to inject the soil with with science. It is the season to plant grains such as wheat and canola and - for the first time this year - an estimated 20 per cent of the canola crop in Victoria will come from one of the most sophisticated levels of scientific endeavour: genetic modification.

But despite the huge uptake by Victorian farmers, this might be the last year Sheehan uses the controversial technology. For him, the outcome has not matched the promise.

Although GM canola has been planted since 1995 in Canada - where it was developed - many other countries, including Australia, had a moratorium on planting the crop due to public disquiet about perceived dangers.

The list of concerns was long, ranging from unease about the possible allergic effects of new untested proteins on humans, to worries the plants could affect other crops and transfer their genetically modified characteristics to weeds.

In the first year after Victoria and New South Wales dropped the moratorium in late 2007, support for the technology was tentative, but plantings have rocketed since. This season, sales of GM canola seed across the country have more than doubled compared with last year. And Victoria farmers appear to be the nation's most enthusiastic, with by far the largest plantings of the three states in which the technology is allowed.

Monsanto is the US-based chemical and biotechnology company that holds the patents on all GM canola grown in this country. It expects 40,000 hectares to be planted in Victoria this year, up from less than 28,000 last year. Nationally, the area cultivated for this type of crop is expected to more than double to 89,000 hectares, thanks to Western Australia dropping its moratorium following the election of the Barnett Liberal government.

David Tribe is a Melbourne University scientist and an energetic advocate for GM technology. He also runs a blog called GMO Pundit that has devoted considerable energy to confronting GM opponents. In conjunction with American academic Bruce Chassy, Tribe has launched a detailed attack on one of America's most high-profile GM critics, Jeffrey Smith, whose book Seeds of Deception has been a best seller.

The book, which takes particular aim at Monsanto, claims the company has historically combined some of the most toxic products ever sold with misleading reports, pressure tactics on opponents and collusion with friendly government scientists.

It asserts the company and its competitors now race to genetically engineer and patent the world's food supply, which Smith says profoundly threatens our health, environment, and economy.

Tribe believes that such claims, while popular, are easily debunked and have never been subjected to scientific peer review.

He believes that in the long term, genetically modified organisms will better suit the needs of agriculture, and are the only way to feed an increasing global population amid the uncertainties thrown up by climate change.

''Many of the opponents of GM take that position because they simply dislike large companies, but they are not facing the problem that our agriculture system will need to feed billions more people.

''If global warming is the greatest moral challenge of our time, then we have to confront it. Many of the opponents [of GM] have a fundamentalist ideological vision of the world, and over history fundamentalist ideologies have killed millions of people.''

Sheehan could be seen to be a similar enthusiast. He planted the first crop as soon as the moratorium was lifted and this is the third year in which he has used the seed known as Monsanto's Roundup Ready. Its characteristic is a modification to allow it to survive being sprayed by the herbicide glyphosate, which Monsanto markets under the Roundup brand.

Despite the claims of increased yields from GM proponents, Sheehan has recorded no such increase. What he has noticed is a much higher cost of using GM canola than using TT varieties. Roundup Ready canola costs $25 a kilogram, whereas TT costs about $4 - although this is modified by the amount needed to be planted.

''With TT you have to plant about five kilos to the hectare whereas with Roundup Ready and Clearfield, you only have to plant three.

''But the real problem with Roundup Ready is the very limited window allowed for weed spraying. You can only spray the plants when they have between two and six leaves … There are times when you might need to spray if weeds develop when the plants have 12 leaves, but if you do that you really knock them around. This [limitation] has really taken the gloss off GM.''

Read more at The Age