CSIRO
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, most commonly referred to by its acronym CSIRO, was established in 1926 as an Australian government agency to undertake scientific research to assist primary or secondary industries in Australia.
Growing Commercialisation
The CSIRO has been criticised for a growing focus on making a profit, rather than on undertaking research. For example, in August 2006, the CSIRO has signed an agreement with Genetic Solutions, a Brisbane based-company, to become a shareholder in the company in exchange for its research into cattle genes. [1] The CSIRO has not traditionally held shares in companies.
In addition, much CSIRO research is now funded by private enterprise, which has raised questions about corporate influence on the CSIRO's previously independent research. For example, tn February 2007, the Canberra Times reported that "the CSIRO has confirmed coal industry bodies have the power to suppress a new report questioning the cost and efficiency of clean-coal carbon capture technologies because they partly funded the research". [2]
CSIRO PR
Until mid-July 2006, Donna Staunton was the Executive Director of Communications for CSIRO and is also a member of the Executive team. Staunton was previously a vice president of Phillip Morris, the chief executive of the Tobacco Institute of Australia, and sat on the board of conservative Australian think tank the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA). [3] The IPA has been a consistent critic of climate science, arguing that the link between increased greenhouse gas emissions and climate change has not been proven.
CSIRO Board
The CSIRO Board is responsible to the Australian Government for the overall strategy, governance and performance of CSIRO. But controversially, in February 2006, the Howard Government appointed two coal and energy industry executives - Eileen Doyle and Peter Willcox - to the board, leading to acusations that the CSIRO was becoming captured to by fossil fuel industry interests, thus compromising its independence. Australians Greens Senator Christine Milne was quoted as saying that "it is outrageous. The Australian public should be seriously concerned about the implication of these appointments for the independence, integrity and direction of CSIRO's research."
Sourcewatch
CSIRO scientist asks chefs to leave GM foods alone
A letter campaign to Australia’s top chefs — including Kylie Kwong, Maggie Beer, Stephanie Alexander, Stefano de Pieri and Margaret Fulton — has again raised questions about the CSIRO’s alliances with industry.
In copies of a letter forwarded to Crikey, Deputy Chief of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Plant Industry, TJ Higgins, has written to more than 50 chefs who signed Greenpeace’s GM-free Chefs Charter, asking them not to boycott Genetically Modified products.
Higgins, whose claims about the safety of GM foods have attracted criticism from some scientists and support from others, is CSIRO’s co-inventor of the GM field pea. The pea, spliced with a bean gene, cost more than $2 million to develop but was abandoned because it caused immune issues and lung-damage when fed to mice.
Despite this, Higgins’ letter urges chefs to “think more broadly about the implications of your opposition”. Higgins says ”it is untrue to say that GM food has not been tested for human safety.” It has, he notes, “and very widely” — independent studies have found no “connection between health problems and GM food”.
But Greenpeace spokesperson Louise Sales told Crikey that Higgins’ claims have been refuted by peer-reviewed studies and that “Higgins has clearly, and not for the first time, crossed the line between being a scientist and biotechnology industry lobbyist.”
Claims of safety are also challenged by public health scientists, including Australian epidemiologist Judy Carman and nutritionist and biochemist Rosemary Stanton, who say there is mounting evidence to suggest some GM foods currently on the market are unsafe, and these have not undergone the rigour of testing that found health hazards in Higgins’ ill-fated GM pea. While Australian food regulation bodies don’t require such testing, in Europe and Japan, many GM foods are banned because of perceived inadequate testing.
CSIRO’s public comments policy forbids advocacy and calls for “care… when speaking about work with commercial potential.”
CSIRO Plant Industry has commercial partners and holds several GM product patents that depend on market acceptance of GM food. Many of these products are co-invented by Australia’s Chief Scientist Jim Peacock, who has lobbied to overturn GM bans.
