Bayer pushes for use of gene technology in Australia

Multinational chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer has urged Australians not to reject the use of gene technology in medicine and farming, the West Australian reports Thursday.

Bayer's head of innovation Kemal Malik, said there are life-saving cures to emerge from gene manipulation or DNA editing in medicine and have the potential to change public perception that the technology somehow produced Frankenstein food.

"The case for genetically modified crops had been lost in Europe despite combined efforts of companies like Bayer, Monsanto and DuPont," Malik said.

"We are not exactly without power or influence but we failed," he said.

"If you ask a person in street, if you had cancer or if your kid had haemophilia would you want to be able to cure it? If your child had cystic fibrosis, a single gene disorder, would you like to use some genetic tool to remove the faulty gene?"

"They would say, 'where do I sign on.' If you said, would you eat genetically modified food? They would say no."

Members from Australia's Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) visited Bayer's office in Germany this week, where both company's efforts on weed control research are centred.

Weeds cause major disruption to crops globally as well as threatening food security.

Director of Australia's Herbicide Resistance Initiative Professor Stephen Powles said the world needs new herbicides as well as state-of-the-art herbicide resistance knowledge and understanding to help mitigate, manage and minimize herbicide resistance. Endit