CA:Modified pollen hits organic farms

TorontoStar
September 30, 2002
Modified pollen hits organic farms
BY Alex Roslin, SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Genetically altered strains spread by wind

Biotech proponents said it couldn't happen. Critics warned it was just a matterof time. Now the nightmare scenario of many farmers seems to have hit Ontario.

Farmers in the province are reporting the first-ever cases of so-calledtransgenic contamination - pollen from genetically engineered crops blowing inthe wind and contaminating natural crops in neighbouring farmers' fields."I was not ready for it. I feel such a wrath about it," says AlexNurnberg, an organic farmer hit this month by GM contamination at his 180-acrespread near Ailsa Craig, a village northwest of London.

The cases raise questions about whether, in the rush to market new geneticallymodified foods, the federal government and biotech companies have sacrificed thegenetic purity of traditional plants.

The questions are of growing importance as countries around the world move toban or severely restrict imports of genetically modified foods, cutting offcritical markets for Canadian farmers.

Nurnberg got a big surprise this month when tests found 15 to 20 tonnes of his100-tonne corn harvest had been contaminated by genetically modified pollen,which he believes blew in from a neighbour's farm.

Nurnberg doesn't know the full financial cost of the contamination, but organiccorn sells for twice the price of regular corn because it is grown understrictly controlled procedures. It must also be certified as being free of GMcontamination and pesticides. Tests to uncover the contamination cost Nurnberg$1,000. Insurance won't cover his losses.

The incident is just the latest example of contamination to hit Ontario farmers,said Larry Lenhardt, leading certifier of organic crops in the province.

Lenhardt, CEO of Organic Crop Producers and Processors Ontario Inc., based inLindsay, says cases of contamination in Ontario first started popping up in hiscompany's tests "three or four years ago." Since then, he said he hasseen "a couple of cases a year.

"The GM farmer's property is trespassing on another farmer's. It's nodifferent from someone's Holstein cow going to visit someone else's farm,"he said.

Lenhardt says many GM farmers ignore the risk to their neighbours when plantinggenetically modified produce. Many don't tell neighbours what they're growing.

"I think the grower of the modified crop grows it and damn the neighbour,"he said.

Other contamination cases have sprung up across southern Ontario. Tom Manley,owner of an organic grain processing company in Berwick, in eastern Ontario,said he had to refuse to buy two different farmers' organic soya crops last yearbecause they tested positive for GM contamination.

"They had to sell it for half the price," he said. "The vendors(of GM seeds) have downplayed the potential risk of contamination. They shouldassume liability for that risk."

Federalofficials and some farmers' groups downplay the concerns, saying geneticallymodified crops are not a health danger and that the sturdy crops help farmersdeal with pesky bug infestations.

"To date (contamination) has not been an issue. We haven't seen any concernon the part of the market about transgenic corn," said Brenda Cassidy,spokesperson for the 21,000-member Ontario Corn Producers' Association.

Vern Greenshields, spokesperson for Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief, said thefederal government inspects corn farmers to make sure they follow regulations,but acknowledged there are only four inspectors checking farms
in Quebec and Ontario, and no inspections in other provinces.

Greenshields said some contamination is inevitable and farmers can't expect"total purity" in their crops. "The issues of the spread ofpollen have been studied. (The GM crops) are not released if there are healthimpacts,"
he said.