US maize shipments tipped to to raise anti-GM hackles

As a desperate measure to keep alive elite dairy and beef cattle herds suffering in one of the worst droughts of the past century, Australia's livestock industries are moving to ship in maize from the US.

Some 30 per cent of the maize is likely to be from genetically modified (GM) varieties engineered for pest resistance or herbicide tolerance, because the US maize industry does not segregate conventional from GM grain.

Dr Rick Roush, director of the Cooperative Research Centre for Weed Management and a leading commentator on GM crops, predicted that US maize imports would inevitably result in "a huge scare campaign" by anti-GM activist groups like Greenpeace and the Australian GeneEthics Network, aimed at undermining consumer confidence in milk and dairy products.

Roush said the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) was currently considering applications to import US maize to feed starving livestock.

The US maize is from the same sources as the US maize donated to feed millions of starving people in African nations that have also been severely affected by drought.

Several African nations like Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Namibia initially refused to accept the grain, on rumours that it was poisonous or caused impotence -- or, more realistically, because of its potential to hybridise with local, non-GM maize varieties and compromise future African shipments of non-GM maize to GM-free Europe.

The Australian imports are intended only for animal consumption, and the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service would require the shipments to be steam-sterilised and crushed at the port of entry, to obviate any risk of hybridisation with conventional maize crops in Australia.

But Roush said consumers had no reason to be concerned about frequent claims by anti-GM activists that GM crops -- or meat and dairy products from animals fed GM on grain -- could have long-term, adverse effects on human health.

"Even European Union scientists agree there are no health risks associated with any GM crops modified so far," he said. "The irony of this debate is that Bt corn is actually safer for humans and animals to eat than conventional corn."

Bt maize varieties are protected against insects that damage growing kernels, so they are virtually free of fungi that contaminate damaged grain with toxic metabolites, called fumonisins.

Roush said high rates of throat cancer in Africa have been linked to high levels of fumonisins in local maize varieties. US Bt maize varieties have up to a 40-fold reduction in fumonisin levels, and are effectively fumonisin-free.

US exports of mixed shipments of conventional and GM maize are carefully tested to ensure fumonisin levels are well within safety standards for human and animal consumption.

"I understand how people might be concerned about GM foods that they eat themselves, based on scare campaigns by anti-GM groups, but they would actually gain an extra level of protection if the maize is fed to animals," he said.

Despite radio reports in South Australia that the dairy industry would not accept GM maize as stockfeed, John McQueen, CEO of the Australian Dairy Farmers Federation, said the ADFF regards GM grain as safe, and has no policy that would prevent dairy farmers feeding it to their herds.

The same policy is endorsed by the dairy industry's peak body in Australia, the Australian Dairy Industry Council, which represents both dairy farmers and dairy foods producers.

McQueen said the ADFF had "no problem" with GM grain being used to feed Australian herds. The industry already uses GM cottonseed from Bt-resistant cotton, and there is no requirement for traceabilty.

Despite this, McQueen said two producers of dairy foods -- National Foods and Murray-Goulburn -- had contractual requirements that their suppliers not use GM grain to feed their herds.

"We acknowledge their concerns, which related mainly to consumer perceptions, but we don't support them," he said.

McQueen said that although both companies advertised their dairy products as GM-free, like most Australian dairy foods manufacturers, they used genetically engineered chymosin as a coagulating agent for cheese manufacturer.

McQueen said that despite companies' claims that consumers were demanding GM-free dairy products, there was little evidence that the pressure came from consumers -- it was more a marketing strategy.

"We have a crazy situation where Japanese companies won't accept dairy products from Australia that have been derived from cattle fed on genetically modified soybeans, yet the Japanese feed GM soybeans to their own cows," he said.

"If Australian companies are silly enough to give such guarantees, they're only hurting themselves."