The Canadian Grain Commission is taking steps to rid the grain handling system of two flax varieties containing Triffid-contaminated breeder seed.
It will deregister CDC Mons and CDC Normandy effective Aug. 1, 2013.
Any deliveries of those two varieties entering the handling system after that date will be eligible only for grade 3 Canada Western flax.
Commission spokesperson Rémi Gosselin said the three-year deregistration time line is necessary.
“It takes time for the whole handling system to clear the system of these varieties,” he said.
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The two varieties were deregistered at the behest of their developer, the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre, after breeder seed tested positive for Triffid, a genetically modified flax variety that caused a trade disruption with Europe in 2009.
Discovery of the contaminated breeder seed prompted the flax industry to abandon its plan of forcing farmers to plant only certified seed that tested negative for Triffid.
Instead, they were also allowed to plant Triffid-free farm saved seed.
Gosselin said the deregistration is one more step toward ensuring Canada’s grain system is free of the unwanted GM flax.
Seed growers have been told to dispose of any pedigreed seed inventory of CDC Mons and CDC Normandy.
Based on 2009 harvest samples collected by the grain commission for quality analysis, the two varieties comprise less than one percent of Canada’s flax acres.
Those are voluntary samples so it is not a foolproof estimate.
“Although we think it’s pretty close,” Gosselin said.
