|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Genetically modified wheat threatens exports and food supply
by A.B. Hansen
Monsanto Canada has asked the federal government to allow yet another genetically
modified (GM) food crop to be grown in this country. If politicians in Ottawa
go along with the scheme, our food supply, our drinking water, the environment
and more than 85 percent of $4 billion in annual wheat exports are under threat.
The Canadian Wheat Board, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and the National
Farmers Union are all adamantly opposed to the introduction of genetically modified
bread wheat, mostly because customers in Asia and Europe will not buy it.
The new strain manipulates the DNA of the most widely grown variety of bread wheat
to make it resistant to glyphosate or Roundup, Monsanto's leading weed killer,
which accounts for 40 percent of the company's sales. Monsanto of course
also controls sale of seed. The idea is to spray more weed killer on the wheat,
which is now more resistant to it, killing more weeds but also putting more chemicals
in our diet and environment.
A study by eminent oncologists Dr. Lennart Hardell and Dr. Mikael Eriksson of
Sweden has revealed clear links between glyphosate and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma,
a form of cancer. The study was published in the March 15, 1999 issue of the Journal
of the American Cancer Society. In many parts of Canada, especially Ontario, a
large percentage of water wells are contaminated with glyphosate.
The uproar over Roundup resistant wheat is rare for Canada. Consumers
have unknowingly eaten food with ingredients from genetically modified
organisms (GMO) for years because unlike Europe, there is no labelling
requirement here. More than 80 percent of canola grown in Canada is
genetically modified. China recently placed severe import restrictions
on GM canola, wiping out most of Canada's $340 million export market
to that country.
Concerns about GM wheat have been building for three years as scientists tended
the first trial crops at secret test stations across the prairies. Doubts rose
sharply this year when Monsanto applied for Canadian government approval to launch
commercial production. It did this after promising to withhold Roundup resistant
wheat until Europe comes around to GM crops.
The Canadian Wheat Board has asked Monsanto to withdraw the crop. It refused,
and the wheat board is now lobbying the Canadian government to take into account
commercial considerations - as well as health and environmental implications -
when it makes its decision. A legal challenge may be next.
Europe's ban on most GMO products would force Canada to segregate conventional
wheat from the Roundup resistant variety. It is unlikely that Canada's
aging storage and transport system can offer such guarantees and it would lose
its reputation for high quality wheat.
Roundup resistant canola is found almost everywhere in Canada due to Monsanto's
marketing methods, to genetic drift from pollen and from dropped seed contaminating
non-GM varieties. (For a story on how GM canola is destroying a Saskatchewan farm
see www.percyschmeiser.com)
The introduction of GM wheat could also disrupt the entire system of agriculture
in the arid region of western Canada where farmers limit tilling of the soil to
prevent erosion and save water. Such techniques would be rendered ineffective
if GM wheat enters production alongside its canola equivalent, upsetting traditional
fallowing and rotation of crops and forcing farmers to turn to different herbicides.
When seeds are inevitably dropped during harvest, they sprout the following year
as herbicide resistant 'weeds,' now mixed in with a different crop
or sucking moisture from a fallowed field.
The next time there is a severe drought in western Canada, an impact will be felt,
and many will lose their farms. Such dangers have yet to fully dawn on farmers,
but the warnings are clear enough to convince them it is not worth trying to persuade
Europe to change its mind on GM wheat.
The Canadian government spent the last seven years trying to convince consumers
in Europe that GM canola is safe and made no headway. It is easier not to grow
something that the marketplace rejects than to convince the consumer that it is
safe. www.producer.com/articles/20030703/
news/20030703news 04.html
 Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
