A major Australian organic food producer is calling on Food Standards Australia and New Zealand for strict regulation in GM food labelling. According to the company representing the organic food industry, there is a great demand for comprehensive labeling in GM food from clients. The organic industry has put forward a proposal to vary the Australian and New Zealand Food Standards Code as it relates to labelling of GM foods under Standard 1.5.2 - Food produced using gene technology.       

GEAC should address health, environmental concerns  --

The Supreme Court, in the course of hearing a writ petition seeking a moratorium on GM crops, had ordered some improvements for introducing transparency in the functioning of GEAC. The government had always defended the functioning of GEAC in the Supreme Court. Now experts have demanded that the government must clarify why it is setting up the National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority, replacing the existing regulator Genetic Engineering Approval Committee which is already acting as a single window clearance for biotech products. If the government feels that the GEAC is incompetent and inefficient, it should bring it to the public knowledge, they say. Many have already questioned the functioning of GEAC. They allege that GEAC, without caring for any biosafety norms and transparency, has been very fast in the approval of GM crops with a view to benefit the multinational seed companies.

China to boost agriculture through GM crops

China has approved a plan aimed at cultivating high-yield and pest-resistant GM crops for the country to achieve agricultural sustainability. An announcement to this effect is posted on the State Council website. The move comes amid mounting challenges to feed 1.3 billion people against shrinking arable land and water shortage. The plan is of "strategic significance" in the country's drive to make its agricultural sector more efficient, the statement said. The statement, however, gave no details on which crops should be developed. Experts have said that the approval of the plan clearly showed that the country was attaching more importance to the development of transgenic species.

The State Council recently had approved a mid- and long-term grain security plan that aims for the country to be 95 percent self-sufficient in grain over the next 12 years. The plan set a goal of achieving annual grain output above 500 million tonnes by 2010, and increasing production to more than 540 million tonnes a year by 2020.