Monsanto continues to pursue approval in Canada for alfalfa that is genetically modified for herbicide tolerance, but there are no plans to release it commercially to the country’s forage producers, says a Monsanto spokesperson.
The Roundup Ready alfalfa is being reviewed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s plant biosafety office in Ottawa.
Monsanto Canada is seeking environmental safety approvals and livestock feed and food use approvals for alfalfa that has been genetically modified for glyphosate tolerance.
Monsanto spokesperson Trish Jordan said the agency’s approval would not give the company the go-ahead to release the alfalfa for commercial production.
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Further trials would have to be done and more submissions made to regulators before that kind of registration could be granted.
“We don’t have any plans to commercialize Roundup Ready alfalfa in Canada,” Jordan said. “It’s not even on the agenda for Canada.”
The CFIA confirmed there is at least one requirement attached to its assessment of the alfalfa submitted for review by Monsanto.
“The condition in which we’re conducting the assessment is that the crop will not be commercialized (in Canada),” said Krista Thomas, an environmental release assessments officer for the CFIA’s biosafety office in Ottawa.
The approvals being sought in Canada are instead tied to Monsanto’s efforts to commercially release the herbicide tolerant alfalfa to growers in the United States, possibly before the end of next year.
One of Monsanto’s commitments, said Jordan, is that it will not commercialize a crop in Canada, the United States or Japan until it has regulatory approval in all three.
As well, she said, the company had to take into account the possibility that circumstances beyond its control could lead to the GM alfalfa crossing into Canada once it was released to growers in the U.S.
That could happen through illegal shipments of seed into Canada or through insects such as bees carrying pollen from Roundup Ready alfalfa fields near the border. Cross-pollination with non-GM alfalfa crops could result.
“It’s a plant, so we’re going to have some possibility for movement,” Jordan said.
From 2001 to 2003, Monsanto did a small field research program in Canada with Roundup Ready alfalfa. The company submitted it to the CFIA for food and feed approvals on Dec. 4, 2003, to support its plans for commercialization in the U.S.
Monsanto and Forage Genetics International are working together to develop Round Ready alfalfa for commercial production in the U.S. Forage Genetics is owned by Research Seeds, a subsidiary of Land O’Lakes.
Surveys of growers in areas including the U.S. Midwest indicated that Roundup Ready alfalfa would appeal to forage producers there. Those growers have few herbicide options for controlling weeds in alfalfa, and crop damage is one of the risks when using available herbicides on the legume crop, said Jordan.
Monsanto saw less demand for a Roundup Ready alfalfa in Canada because growers tend more often to plant the legume in a mixed stand with grass. Pure stands of alfalfa are more common in the U.S., she said.
Jordan did not rule out the possibility that Monsanto might one day decide to pursue commercialization of the GM alfalfa in Canada.
“Circumstances certainly can change. Just because we don’t have any commercialization plans (in Canada) right now, that doesn’t mean that might not change in the future.”
