Biotech Updates

OGTR Issues License for Environmental Release of GM Cotton

August 3, 2012

The Australian Office of Gene Technology Regulator authorized the limited and controlled release or field trial of eight types of cotton genetically modified for enhanced fiber yield. This decision came after the Office called for comments on the application for field trial last 21 May 2012.

The trial is set to take place in Narrabri, New South Wales from August 2012 to August 2015, in a maximum area of 0.5 hectare. The field experiment seeks to evaluate the potential for increasing fiber yield through the increasing expression of one or more of the three cotton genes that are involved in regulation of fiber development.

The Executive Summary, Technical Summary and complete finalized Risk Assessment and Risk Management Plan RARMP, together with a set of Questions and Answers on this decision and a copy of the license, can be obtained on-line from the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator's website.

See the news release at http://www.ogtr.gov.au/internet/ogtr/publishing.nsf/Content/dir115notific-htm.