Zero tolerance leaves farmers in the dust

Just ask Canadian flax and canola exporters, who are suffering lost market access on several fronts, or alfalfa seed producers, who are worried the same thing might happen to them.

Flax growers have seen their access to the all-important European Union frozen since late summer when tests there found traces of a genetic marker indicating a genetically modified (GM) organism -- most likely a flax variety called CDC Triffid.

The EU market represents about 70 per cent of Canada's flax exports and although European authorities have gradually started to accept other GM crops, they have so far not authorized GM flax, which means zero-tolerance.

Without dragging the mathematicians into a debate over whether zero is a number, people in the grain-handling industry know that if any exists in the system at all, zero is virtually impossible to achieve. With today's technology, tests can detect GM material in one in 10,000 seeds.

The Canadian flax industry recognized the disconnect between new technology and old world views years ago and did its best to keep CDC Triffid out of the system.

The variety, which had been modified with a gene from the arabidopsis plant (a relative of mustard and cabbage) to make it more tolerant of herbicide residues, was cleared for full feed, food and environmental release. But it was voluntarily withdrawn from the registration process in 2001 -- which means the variety never went into commercial production and therefore zero-tolerance compliance secured.

Or so everyone thought.

Its discovery in trace amounts in Europe this summer has forced the industry to develop a testing protocol that would provide customers with the assurances that the presence of GM flax in Canadian shipments from here on in will be about as close to zero as one can get.

"Shipments sampled and tested in accordance with this protocol, accompanied by the documentation outlined, are designed to satisfy the EU zero-tolerance policy for unauthorized GMOs as currently interpreted in the EU, i.e. no detection at a 0.01 per cent level, 19 times out of 20," an industry update posted last week says.

Extensive sampling of deliveries from Western Canada has so far failed to find where the contaminated flax is getting into the system. As well, it is not yet clear whether some farmers have purposely grown the variety or whether some of the original seed was somehow mixed in with seed that has been carried over from year to year.

All this has alfalfa seed growers in a flap because they foresee the same problem arising for them in the not-so-distant future. Against the Manitoba Forage Council's wishes, field trials of genetically modified alfalfa are underway, which could lead to commercialization of that crop in Canada.

Even though the companies involved insist they have no intention of commercializing the crop at this time, forage growers are worried even the presence of field trials could lead to outcrossing through pollen transfer. That could result in contamination of the commercial seed supply, putting them in a similar conflict with Europe's zero-tolerance policy.

Once again, this GM alfalfa has been cleared for full release by Canada's regulatory process for reviewing Plants with Novel Traits, so this is about market access -- not food safety. But the potential harm to producers is real all the same -- as is now evidenced by the flax debacle.

Forage growers want an assessment of potential market harm included as part of the initial regulatory process, but Canadian authorities don't consider that to be part of a science-based review. Others have lobbied for the same -- and lost.

On another zero-tolerance front, canola processors have recently seen 13 shipments of canola meal, which is used in livestock feed, turned away by the United States because tests detected the presence of salmonella. In all likelihood, there always has been some salmonella in some shipments all along. The difference is, the United States has started testing for it and is now enforcing its zero-tolerance rule.

And just last week, canola seed exporters were informed that as of Nov. 15, China will no longer accept shipments of seed that is infected with blackleg, a common canola disease.

It would be one thing to insist seed destined for replanting be free of the disease, but the industry argues it shouldn't matter on seed destined for processing.

All of these disputes would be moot if importing countries could be persuaded to establish tolerances that were somewhere -- anywhere -- above the virtually impossible-to-achieve zero. Those efforts are ongoing.

In the meantime, they own the rules and Canadian farmers pay the price.

Laura Rance is editor of the Manitoba Co-operator. She can be reached at 792-4382 or by email:

laura@fbcpublishing.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 24, 2009 B8