SYDNEY - The Australian government's gene technology regulator said last week it had received an application by agricultural chemical maker Monsanto Ltd for a license to grow genetically modified (GM) canola on a commercial basis.
This was the first such application for a general or commercial release of GM canola crops in Australia, Commonwealth Gene Technology Regulator Sue Meek said in a statement. A spokeswoman for Monsanto Australia said timing of the group's first commercial GM canola crop in Australia would depend on the approval process.
A spokeswoman for French-German science group Aventis told Reuters on Thursday that it would also soon apply for a license to grow commercial GM canola in Australia.
It planned a gradual introduction of commercial crops, she said. Meek also said she had received 20 license applications this year for intentional releases of genetically modified organisms (GMO) into the environment, the majority for field trials.
Four licenses were issues for limited and controlled releases of various forms of GM cotton in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, she said.
The remainder of the applications were in various stages of a comprehensive assessment process, she said.
License applications currently under consideration included five for field trials and one application for a commercial release of GM cotton in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, she said.
They also included two applications for field trials of canola in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia and one application for a commercial release, by Monsanto.
Also under considerations were two applications for oilseed poppies field trials in Western Australia and Tasmania, as well as one application for sugar cane field trial in northern Queensland.
By the end of June 2002 more than a third of about 70 applications for licenses to conduct work in contained laboratory facilities would have been approved, she said.:
