A government decision to deregulate gene-editing tools such as CRISPR met a last-stop challenge in the Australian Senate, with an organic farmers’ group expressing concerns that it will be “sacrificed for the sake of unregulated GMO tech.” Opponents of deregulation, including the Green Party, hoped to persuade senators to override the decision, announced in May, that they would not regulate gene-editing techniques, such as CRISPR, which cuts a cell’s DNA.
“The decision by the Gene Technology Regulator has been described as being ‘middle ground’ between the more relaxed approach of countries like the U.S. and Brazil, and the tighter regulations of the European Union and New Zealand,” said ABC News.
“Lobby groups against genetic modification have rallied hard in an attempt to stop controversial amendments to the Gene Technology Act,” said Farm Weekly. The publication said there was support “from many corners of agriculture” for deregulation. The Maitland Mercury said the Greens would need the support of cross-bench and Labor Party senators to prevent deregulation, but the Labor Party leader on agriculture, Joel Fitzgibbon, said Labor would not support the disallowance motion.