The CSIRO has rejected claims made by the coal seam gas industry in a TV advertising campaign and asked that the ads not be aired.
The commercial includes the statement: ''CSIRO [and government studies] have shown that groundwater is safe with coal seam gas.''
However, the national science body said yesterday that this claim was not true. ''At no time has CSIRO made such a statement, and nor do the results of CSIRO research support such a statement,'' the organisation said.
''CSIRO has stated on the public record that coal seam gas extraction is likely to pose a 'low risk' to groundwater quality through contamination.''
The TV commercials were produced for the coal seam gas industry body, the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, which said it had ''taken the CSIRO's comments on board''.
The ads were aired on Sunday night in Queensland and are part of a campaign that reportedly cost $2.5 million to put together.
''All of our ads have been approved as factual by the independent advertising regulator,'' a spokesman for APPEA said. The statement, released yesterday by the national science body, said: ''CSIRO has also indicated that groundwater levels will fall as a consequence of coal seam gas extraction.
''In some places this could see aquifer levels subside by tens of metres for tens of years; in others it is likely to reduce aquifer levels by several metres for several hundred years.''
The CSIRO said it became aware of the ads last Friday and ''requested for the commercial not to be aired''.
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