WINNIPEG – Canada’s main wheat seller said it is worried new rules about how Canada approves genetically modified crops may come too late to stall a controversial new wheat variety.
The Canadian government is mulling over how best to ensure new biotech crops don’t upset traditional markets while taking pains not to stifle research, said Peter Pauker, a federal agriculture official helping develop the policy.
Ottawa plans formal consultations by summer on whether Canada should ensure markets accept new foods before farmers start growing them.
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The results of those meetings would be presented to cabinet by the end of 2004 at the earliest, Pauker said.
But a GM wheat variety developed by Monsanto is already in the regulatory pipeline.
The Canadian Wheat Board, the country’s main grain marketer, said its sales would be hurt by approval of the crop, which has an altered gene allowing it to withstand a Monsanto herbicide.
“We are hopeful that the federal government is going to come up with some kind of interim measure specifically on (Monsanto’s) Roundup Ready wheat, recognizing that they do have this larger (consultation) process under way,” said Patty Rosher, a CWB official.
“If they are delaying the (new policy) much further, there needs to be an interim solution,” she said.
The CWB said buyers of 87 percent of its wheat last year, including Canadian millers, required guarantees the grain was not genetically modified.
Monsanto has promised it will wait to commercialize its wheat until it can keep it segregated from traditional grain and find customers who will buy it.
The company submitted its GM wheat for review more than a year ago. Regulators have not said how long the review will take.
The debate over GM wheat has raged for several years, pitting biotech researchers and seed companies against grain sellers and environmental groups.
Some Canadian farmers are interested in the new crop, while others worry it will hurt their bottom line.
On March 19, Greenpeace and organic farmers unveiled their campaign against GM wheat. Three days later, Japanese consumer groups presented a petition in Winnipeg calling for a ban on the wheat.
The Canadian government wants to hold public meetings to talk about ideas for new rules this summer – meetings it hopes will not be acrimonious, Pauker said.
“There is concern within governments about economic impacts of innovative agricultural products, so that’s why we’re working on the policy development,” he said.
“What will happen with Roundup Ready wheat in particular, I cannot say at this time. I’d be speculating and I really don’t want to speculate.”
The rules have to be broad enough to apply to a variety of new products, from crops to trees to the offspring of cloned livestock. They could range from industry-developed guidelines to government intervention, although Pauker said Ottawa hopes to avoid creating new regulations.
“We have to be very, very careful,” he said. “To my knowledge, government has never done this before, and it’s meeting with quite a bit of chagrin.”
The government wants to take the time required to ensure it makes the right recommendations, he said.
“If that means that perhaps Round-up Ready wheat and (the new policy) are not on exactly the same time track, then so be it,” Pauker said.
