COURIER MAIL (Brisbane, Australia) 15 August 08 Government stops funding GE toad exterminator (Brian Williams)
Funding for research on a genetically engineered virus to control toads has been cancelled for fear it could also wipe out native frogs.
The Federal Environment Department withdrew funding for the CSIRO research because its long-term feasibility was questionable and because it faced a major hurdle in being approved for release.
James Cook University researcher Ross Alford said yesterday the project was a long way from becoming something that could be used in the field.
"It's a case of it simply being in its very early stages," Professor Alford said.
"It's OK (keeping research going) if you want to keep your options open but there are many other areas that have not been completely exploited yet.
"For example, we haven't even looked at diseases in related species in other parts of the world. We've not done that at all. And there's the fact that people are very suspicious about genetically modified organisms.
"People are concerned that the results from these engineered organisms might be unpredictable and I'm sure that's one of the things that was considered when the decision was made on funding."
Prof Alford said immediate results on small-scale toad control were available for low-tech but community friendly methods such as better trapping that greatly reduced numbers.
"We've tripled the catch rate simply by playing back toad calls at a trap," he said.
"We're working on modified calls that toads find more attractive than the real thing.
"Another thing we're working on is the best light source to attract toads and that's looking real interesting."
Sydney University's Rick Shine caused a kerfuffle last year when he declared cane toads were not causing the ecological catastrophe for which they had long been blamed.
Field trials as toads advanced across the Northern Territory told a different story to the one espoused by scientists and naturalists for decades.
Although toads had an initial detrimental impact upon arrival, he said native predators had adapted rapidly in ways that enabled them to coexist and often make a meal of the introduced species and that also helped reduce mosquito numbers.
Government stops funding GE toad exterminator