Date accessed: 23 May 2001

Wednesday, May 23, 2001

Globe and Mail

Across Western Canada this spring, scientists will plant genetically modified wheat at 59 research sites, pressing forward in their efforts to develop a commercial seed to sell to farmers.

Those silent, sunny Prairie fields may appear calm, but they have become the subject of a growing storm of controversy. While agricultural giant Monsanto is pressing the Canadian government to license the seed for commercial sale (it is conducting 56 of the 59 site tests), the Canadian Wheat Board is lobbying hard to have the request denied.

Both agree on one point: Much of the world doesn't want to buy genetically modified wheat today. The real debate is whether buyer interest will grow as a product is developed, as Monsanto expects, and what the risks are if this prediction is wrong.

The Canadian Wheat Board makes a persuasive case that there should be evidence of customer acceptance before the seed is approved, because there will be enormous damage if buyers are not ready. The Wheat Board, which is the agency that sells Canada's wheat worldwide, is not philosophically or scientifically opposed to genetically modified wheat, but fears it will be a commercial disaster.

The board says two-thirds of its international clients insist they will not buy genetically modified wheat. And the fears (based on emotion, with no hard evidence of scientific risk) are so acute that many countries will stop buying even normal Canadian wheat, knowing it is impossible to keep it entirely uncontaminated by modified seed.

Even worse, the board's best clients in Europe and Japan, who buy the highest grades of wheat with the best profit margins, are the ones most likely to turn elsewhere for their purchases. The Wheat Board warns that Australia could capture the entire market for premium-grade wheat.

Genetically modified wheat is currently not licensed for growth anywhere in the world, including the United States, where farm groups raise the same arguments as the Canadian Wheat Board. Indeed, some U.S. legislators have argued that their country should delay licensing wheat until Canada does it first, to see how much sales are damaged.

Although crops such as soy, canola and corn are widely grown with modified seed, wheat is only now being developed, and is coming along at a time of far greater concerns about food safety, particularly in Europe.

As well, it is coming along after buyers have discovered some glitches with other genetically modified crops. In the United States, for example, genetically modified corn quickly became intermingled with normal corn, causing buyer anger and a public-relations disaster. The same has happened in several cases with canola, because seed is easily carried in windstorms to other fields. Monsanto abandoned its genetically modified potato after major companies such as McCain Foods stopped buying it, and is finding stiff buyer resistance to its sugar cane.

As the world's second-largest wheat exporter, Canada cannot afford to license the genetically modified wheat simply to support Monsanto's commercial hopes that it will sell. Monsanto has much marketing work to do to convince consumers that they want food made from genetically modified plants. Only once they become convinced can Canada step forward to meet a viable market demand.

Category: 24.Monsanto,  29. GMOs