A group of American scientists says seed from unregistered genetically modified crops could be making its way into the food supply.
The Union of Concerned Scientists said contamination from genetically modified plants is rampant and is not limited to commercially released varieties.
The environmental group indicated that experimental crops like GM wheat and plants grown for pharmaceutical or industrial purposes could be escaping the confines of their test plots.
“Until we know otherwise, it is prudent to assume that engineered sequences originating in any crop, whether it was approved and planted commercially or just field tested, could potentially contaminate the seed supply,” said plant pathologist Jane Rissler, who co-authored a report entitled Gone to Seed.
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“Among the potential contaminants are genes from crops engineered to produce drugs, plastics and vaccines.”
Her study determined that seed contamination is pervasive, especially in canola where 83 percent of the traditional varieties tested contained up to one percent of GM seed.
Researchers for the environmental group could not test for the presence of “pharm crops” because materials needed to detect such genes are not publicly available. But the study said there is no reason to believe commercial GM crops are the only ones moving into the food chain.
“We must be concerned about hundreds of other genes that have been field tested but whose identities are unknown to the public in many instances,” said Rissler.
Canadian authorities and biotechnology supporters say there is no need for concern in this country about unregistered genetic material ending up in traditional seed supplies.
“There are no field trials that would allow that to happen. Anything that would be progressing along those lines would only ever be allowed to happen in greenhouse conditions at this point in time,” said Cate McCready, vice-president of external relations with BioteCanada.
Krista Thomas, environmental release assessment officer with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, agreed there is no cause for alarm but said McCready’s statement isn’t entirely accurate.
Since 1994, there have been 73 confined research field trials on pharmaceutical and industrial crops that have had a specific trait added to them through genetic modification or other techniques.
“When we talk about a confined research field trial, that is in the field, it is not in a greenhouse,” said Thomas.
The CFIA has implemented strict rules to regulate such trials, including establishing isolation distances, monitoring disposal of material at the end of the trial and controlling volunteer plants for a number of years after the trial has concluded.
Pharmaceutical plants can be field tested at no more than 10 sites per province in a given year, with a total seeded area of no more than 12 acres per province.
There have been no field tests of pharmaceutical or industrial canola since 1999. Over the past four years experiments have been confined to tobacco, safflower, white clover and flax.
Regulations governing GM wheat trials are less stringent but there are still safeguards, including a 30-metre isolation buffer. Thomas said there have been 80 GM wheat trials in the last two years, including experiments with some herbicide-tolerant varieties.
McCready assured Canadian consumers their food is safe from contamination by experimental pharmaceutical and industrial crops, which the Union of Concerned Scientists said could pose “serious risks” to human health.
“(The risk) is beyond slim. It’s non-existent,” she said.
