WHILE other food crops have faced considerable hurdles in both public and industry acceptance of genetically modified products, the “GM bogey man” has seemingly not raised his head when it comes to bananas.
Part of this could be put down to the Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) open research policy, and inclusion of the industry.
When the vitamin biofortificiation project in Innisfail began, Prof James Dale ran a workshop for all local banana growers to let them know what was happening.
“We’ve had no push back at all, which has been wonderful,” he said.
In January last year, the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) authorised the QUT’s application for controlled release of 151 lines of genetically modified banana at Litchfield Municipality, Northern Territory.
The licence allows for a maximum area of 1.5 hectares to be planted, between the date of issue of the licence and November 2014.
Professor Dale was also awarded $750,000 from the Australian Research Council to plant the genetically modified bananas in diseased soil in the Northern Territory.
Professor Dale said even though the trials are targeted toward a product that would eventually be grown in Africa, information accessibility kept everyone on the same page.
“It’s really important to keep everyone informed about what is going on. It’s nothing secretive,” he said.
Email a friend