Incident details
| Region/Continent and country: |
| Oceania / Australia |
| Category of incident: |
Contamination
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| What was contaminated: |
| Seed |
| GM organism involved: |
| Oilseed rape/canola |
| Year incident occurred: |
| 2005 |
|
| Route of contamination |
| Contaminated seed - source not known |
|
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Australia – farmer’s conventional oilseed rape crop contaminated with GM
A farmer’s conventional oilseed rape crop in Victoria, Australia has been found to be contaminated with 0.5% GM. The contamination was discovered after sampling by Greenpeace and tests by the independent laboratory, AgriQualaity GMO Services, revealed the presence of 0.5% Liberty Link DNA. Liberty Link is the trade name Bayer gives to their GM oilseed rape which is modified to be tolerant to the herbicide, Liberty (glufosinate), also made by Bayer. Victoria, like all other oilseed rape growing states in Australia, has a moratorium on the growing of GM oilseed rape, although the GM variety has national approval, leaving the farmer in an uncertain legal position.
Contamination with Bayer’s Liberty Link variety, Topas, has also been detected in variety trials with supposedly non-GM oilseed rape in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia in 2005.
The source of the contamination has not been identified but is suspected to be imported seed from North America.
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Further information
Bayer contaminates Victorian canola field. Greenpeace Press Release October 7, 2005 >
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