Associated Press Online
March 12, 2003

Farmers Want to Stop Biotech Wheat

BY EMILY GERSEMA; Associated Press Writer

U.S. farmers could lose overseas clients if genetically engineered wheat
pollinates with other crops, say farm and consumer groups who want the
government to suspend the development of the biotech grain.

In a petition filed Tuesday with the Agriculture Department, the groups
said wheat genetically designed to tolerate a widely used herbicide could
lead to grain mix-ups in the field and in shipments, making some exports
unacceptable to trading partners.

Monsanto Co., the St. Louis biotech company that manufactures the Roundup
herbicide, is developing a variety of hard red spring wheat that would
withstand its popular weed-killer.

The petitioners want the government to determine the impact the new variety
of wheat would have on exports before allowing its development to continue.

Joseph Mendelson, legal director for the Center for Food Safety, an
anti-biotech group and one of the petitioners, said he worries the company
wants to rush the wheat to the market to rebound from recent financial
troubles.

"Our fear very much is given that this is a major product for Monsanto, and
given that the company in general has not been very favorable to... Wall
Street lately, that (Monsanto) will push very hard to get this out onto the
market," Mendelson said.

Monsanto said last month it lost $1.69 billion, or $6.45 per share, in
2002. In December, longtime president and CEO Hendrik A. Verfaillie
resigned, citing the company's poor financial performance over two years.

Other petitioners included the Western Organization of Research Councils,
the Dakota Resources Council, Northern Plains Resource Council, Northern
Plains Sustainable Agriculture and the Family Farm Coalition.

Agriculture Department spokesman Ed Curlett said officials were reviewing
the petition and had no comment. The agency is required to determine the
impact a new biotech plant could have on the environment before a company
can register it for sale.

The wheat is years away from being ready for the market, said Michael
Doane, a Monsanto wheat official. The company filed information about it
for the government to begin reviewing at the end of last year.

Doane said the company believes the wheat is safe for growing and eating.

"We feel like we've submitted a very strong package that will support
registration," Doane said.

Farmers hope the new biotech variety would increase yields, said Daren
Coppock, CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers.

"But at the present time a lot of players in the world market are not ready
to accept biotech wheat," Coppock said. "It's important to us to work with
those customers and their markets and see if we can't find a way to solve
(this)."

Tom Wiley, who grows wheat and non-biotech corn in Millerton, N.D., said
foreign consumers leery of the safety of biotech food, especially in Japan
and the European Union, will reject the new wheat.

"The consumer is always right," said Wiley, spokesman for the Western
Organization of Resource Councils.

Wiley and other farmers growing conventional crops fear they'll suffer
losses because their plants may become pollinated by biotech crops.