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July 7, 2001
Of the 629 sites in Australia where
genetically modified crops are being trialed, specific location
details about 518 sites have been posted on the website of the
Office of the
Gene Technology Regulator this afternoon.
This follows the midnight deadline last night
(July 6 th
) which companies needed to
meet if they wanted to apply for commercial in confidence status
and not have their site details publicly known.
According to Ms Liz Cain, Acting Gene
Technology Regulator, yesterday one of the biggest players in
the trialing of genetically modified crops in Australia, Aventis
CropSciences, advised her they would not be making applications
for commercial-in-confidence status on any of their sites.
"This has resulted in the publication today of
283 sites operated by Aventis, which is a large slice of the GM
market," she said.
"The other company that operates a large share
of the sites is Monsanto which progressively lodged applications
for commercial in confidence for 80 of their sites in Australia
during last week.
"Prior to the deadline of last night, some
other companies had already made application for
commercial-in-confidence in accordance with the provisions in
the Gene Technology Act, passed by parliament in December last
year.
"This has meant that today we have been able
to release the details of around 83 per cent of all sites
"I must now formally assess the
commercial-in-confidence applications which my office will
progress as quickly as possible," Ms Cain said.
"The
tests for meeting the criteria for commercial-in-confidence
status are extremely high and are premised on the clear intent
of the legislation for public disclosure. "Because a company
applies for commercial confidentiality does not automatically
mean they will be granted that status."
Ms Cain said as companies’ applications are
assessed, the results will immediately be placed on the GTR
website.
"If I reject the application the site details
will immediately be posted on the public record. "If I decide
that an applicant does have sound grounds for keeping their site
details secret, I must make public my reasons and these will
also be posted on the website.
OGTR news release
N3648 |
