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States have won the right to decide for themselves whether to grow genetically modified organisms, under changes to Australia's regulation of the controversial science. This means states will have the power to ban individual GM crops on marketing grounds, and it opens up the prospect of GM-free regions or even an entire GM-free state. The shift, agreed in principle at a meeting of state and federal officials, will be written into the policy of a Ministerial Council on Gene Technology, according to a spokeswoman for federal Health Minister Michael Wooldridge. An amendment to the new Gene Technology Bill will also enshrine a state's right to appeal on environmental grounds against a federal decision to allow a GMO's release. The changes follow a long campaign by Tasmania to opt out of GMO releases as part of its push to be accepted as a producer of "clean and green" foods. It has already imposed its own year-long moratorium on all GM crops while it decides what course to take. Other states including Victoria and New South Wales have agreed. Victoria's Agriculture Minister Keith Hamilton welcomed the amendments and will release a discussion paper on GM zones in Victoria within the month. Tasmania's Minister for Primary Industries, David Llewellyn, said he believed the Commonwealth had realised it was a states' rights issue. Mr Llewellyn said the amendments would let a state legislate to exclude GM crops if it was concerned about its marketing image. He said states could also opt out on environmental grounds if they could establish scientifically that there was a risk in releasing GMOs. For example, if particular native plants in one state might be affected by a GMO, the state could then argue for its exclusion. There would be no automatic state veto on environmental grounds. Anti-GM environmentalists welcomed the changes. But GE-Free Tasmania's Georgia Miller said it was disappointing that opt-out powers had not yet been extended to local government. If the NZ Government won't move in this direction, it may be up to local bodies to show the way, exactly as happened with a Nuclear Free NZ.
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