A national lobby group for grain and oilseeds farmers is warning the federal government against using a market acceptance test or cost-benefit analysis before genetically modified wheat can be approved for the Canadian market.
Grain Growers of Canada warned the House of Commons agriculture committee April 3 that any move away from a science-based criterion for new plant variety approvals could drive biotechnology investment away from Canada and deprive farmers of the best in variety development.
“Governments must be careful not to take actions today that restrict farmers’ access to these advances,” Grain Growers vice-president Don Kenny told MPs.
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Director Don McCabe said any government decision on the approval system for GM wheat will have to apply to all other varieties as well.
“This fact cannot be forgotten when this issue is discussed,” he said. “GGC members are extremely concerned with the direction proposed by those calling for changes to Canada’s regulatory system.”
The grain growers’ lobby was taking a stand against a powerful coalition of growers, marketers and customers that is calling on Ottawa to keep GM wheat off the market until it is more widely accepted.
The Canadian Wheat Board, bakers and millers and many farm groups have joined the call for a cost-benefit analysis on GM wheat, arguing its unrestricted introduction could drive customers away and close markets for Canadian wheat.
The Ontario Wheat Board, although a Grain Growers’ member, supports the CWB call for an economic analysis, in addition to science-based acceptance, before a variety can be approved.
The grain growers’ lobby, representing Ontario corn producers, Canadian canola growers, Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association and western barley growers, acknowledged there are legitimate industry concerns that GM wheat could damage markets.
However, rather than a regulatory change toward politics and economics and away from science, they suggested an “advanced stakeholder review process” that would allow the variety developer, farmers, consumers, governments, processors and others with a stake in the debate to decide how a variety that meets the traditional regulatory tests should be introduced and marketed.
“These concerns should be dealt with on a voluntary basis by industry and not through government regulations or legislation,” said McCabe.
The group suggested developers of the varieties, including Monsanto and GM wheat, would be willing to sign an agreement that the variety would not be marketed until a committee evaluation had been done and a market impact assessment completed.
Critics suggested this voluntary proposal leaves wary customers with nothing more than a promise that industry will agree not to market an unpopular product. The system must offer more guarantees that Canada’s wheat supply is guaranteed free of genetically modified varieties, they said.
Gordon Harrison, president of the Canadian National Millers’ Association, said his members and the Baking Association of Canada want a stronger guarantee than an industry promise that GM wheat or other varieties with market-disrupting potential will not be introduced.
He said many customers of millers demand a written guarantee there is no GM material. The existing grain handling system cannot guarantee segregation.
And developers of new varieties that have been approved through the traditional variety approval process will want a return on their investment.
He said the protection against unwanted marketing of GM varieties must be guaranteed by regulation and not left up to the industry.
