Grain and oilseed exports to Europe will continue to suffer as long as the European Union adheres to a zero tolerance policy for material derived from unapproved GM events in bulk agricultural commodities, says a University of Saskatchewan researcher.
Stuart Smyth, who studies international grain trade issues, said advances that allow European importers to detect GM contamination at 100 parts per million or less make it practically impossible to ensure uninterrupted international trade in bulk commodities.
Smyth, who spoke last week at a flax genomics workshop in Saskatoon, said Canadian authorities must convince the EU to adopt more realistic tolerance levels.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
If they can’t, it will result in trade disruptions for all bulk commodities are produced in Canada and shipped to European markets, he predicted.
“It’s going to be an increasing challenge for all ag commodities because the science of detection has gone ahead leaps and bounds…,” said Smyth, whose areas of expertise include identity preserved production and the potential for GM contamination during transportation of bulk commodities.
“Now that the science of testing has advanced to detect contamination at 0.1 and 0.01 percent, I think it’s only a matter of time before every commodity that’s traded is going to be subject (to this level of scrutiny) and everyone’s going to get hit with it.”
The European Union now has a 0.9 percent tolerance level for approved GM events in bulk commodities and a zero percent tolerance threshold for unapproved GM events, including the deregistered Canadian flax variety CDC Triffid.
Advanced testing systems that detect contamination at 0.01 percent can be triggered by one seed in 10,000.
At that level of detection, volunteer plants in a farmer’s field can jeopardize an entire cargo of exported grain, said Smyth.
Other potential sources of contamination include residual seeds left in a ship’s hold or the mixing of different crop types at harvest or during transportation.
Smyth also suggested that Canada’s ability to ensure genetic purity in bulk commodities could be affected by activities in the United States.
For example, the approval of a genetically modified wheat variety in the United States would lead to the contamination of wheat supplies in Canada, he suggested.
American wheat varieties that are not registered for production in Canada are already showing up in Canadian wheat exports, he said.
“You can’t guarantee absolute purity in a bulk handling system because you can’t vacuum every kernel of corn out of an ocean going freighter and you can’t guarantee that kernel of wheat has been emptied out of a rail car,” Smyth said.
Alan McHughen, the former U of S flax breeder who developed CDC Triffid, offered a similar assessment.
He said trade disruptions caused by unapproved GM material in corn, soybeans, flax and other commodities are becoming more common.
“Because the Europeans are using the most sensitive assays available, they’re starting to pick up things that they weren’t picking up before and it’s causing problems, not only with flax but also with soybeans and with wheat and with corn,” said McHughen.
