MP Alex Atamanenko knew he would face critics at the Commons agriculture committee June 2 as he defended his private member’s bill C-474. His bill would require an analysis of potential export market damage before a new genetically modified variety is approved.
“We agree that we have to do everything possible to avoid market access challenges but not at the expense of science and innovation, which is at the heart of our success,” Canola Council of Canada president JoAnne Buth told MPs.
“A move away from science-based framework for biotech is an invitation to other countries to deny our science and eliminate our competitive advantage in world markets. It’s a huge gamble with our industry and we strongly oppose it.” Saskatchewan Conservative MP Randy Hoback said if the bill had been in place when GM canola was developed in the 1990s, the canola industry might never have developed.
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“When we would have done the market analysis in ’96 or ’95, we probably would have said, ‘oh, we can’t risk the European market.’” Buth said the industry debated that issue in the 1990s when GM varieties were developed and decided to risk being shut out of Europe.
“We determined that really, their regulatory system wasn’t functioning.” Rick White, a Saskatchewan canola grower and general manager of the Canadian Canola Growers’ Association, said the farm level agrees. “To preserve and expand export markets and ensure continued research and development in canola, the CCGA supports the continuation of the current science-based regulatory system governing the introduction of all varieties, including those derived from GM technology.”
Atamanenko said his bill is meant to protect farmers who could lose markets because of an unwanted GM trait, as happened when an unapproved GM trait was discovered in flax export shipments.“ The logic of bill C-474 is clear. Normally in the business world, prior to opening up a store or developing a product, an analysis of some kind is done to evaluate the feasibility of the project, a market analysis.“ If (GM) crops are designed to support and benefit farmers, then we should make sure this happens by also protecting their export markets,” he told MPs.
“The fact is that the controversy over (GM) is not going away and this controversy is determining the acceptance of our export markets.” Atamanenko said the introduction of GM wheat varieties would close the majority of wheat markets to Canadian product unless an identify preserved segregation system was in place.
“Our regulations simply don’t address this risk,” he said. “We cannot ignore this reality and if we do, farmers and the industry will suffer.” Atamanenko said he did not have a blueprint for how the market analysis would be done, who would do it or what the criteria would be. He said he hoped the committee would offer some suggestions.
