"Monsanto replacing GMO canola seed in Canada"

Kanina Holmes
Reuters
Winnepeg Manitoba
April 25, 2001 

WINNIPEG, Manitoba,  April 25 (Reuters)  -  Two of Canada's major
grain  companies  deployed  dozens  of  employees  and a fleet of
trucks as they scrambled to  retrieve  thousands  of  bags  of  a
genetically  modified  canola seed that Monsanto Co.  (NYSE:MON -
news)  voluntarily recalled on Wednesday after discovering  trace
amounts of an alternate version of a genetic trait.  

"If  we  see  a  farmer  in  the  field  and  we know that farmer
purchased Quest, we'll be stopping him right on his seeder," said
Diane Wreford, a spokeswoman for Agricore.  

"We're taking this very seriously because  this  is  a  potential
trade issue," Wreford said.  

Monsanto  said  that the quality tests on canola seed,  initially
conducted by Saskatchewan Wheat Pool late last week, had detected
trace levels of an  alternative  version  of  the  Roundup  Ready
trait,  a  version  that  has  not  been registered for canola by
Japan,  Canada's largest canola  seed  customer,  or  the  United
States,  the  largest  buyer  of  Canadian  canola  oil and meal.
Monsanto's "Roundup Ready"  series of soybean and  canola  seeds,
engineered  to withstand the company's popular Roundup herbicide,
are the most widespread GMO oilseeds planted  in  North  America.
The Quest canola variety represented between 10 and 12 percent of
the 12 million canola acres seeded in western Canada last year.  

Monsanto, the St Louis, Missouri-based biotechnology company, has
been one of the biggest boosters of the use of GM crops globally.
The  company  said  that  it  was  working  with  the two western
Canadian distributors of Quest,  Agricore  and  the  Saskatchewan
Wheat  Pool,  on  the voluntary withdrawal and replacement of the
seed for spring planting.  

"What's key here is we identified it,  we reported it  and  we're
addressing  it proactively,"  said Loren Wassell,  a spokesperson
from Monsanto's Winnipeg office.  

"This is a product that's fully approved for food,  for feed  and
for  planting.   There  are  no  health,  safety or environmental
issues," said Wassell.  

Late last year,  discovery of  traces  of  a  GMO  corn  variety,
StarLink, unapproved for use in foods, caused a massive recall of
tacos  and  other  foods  in  the  U.S.  and Japan,  and cost its
manufacturer,  Aventis SA unit Aventis  CropScience  millions  of
dollars and put world corn trade on a roller coaster.  

Vocal  opponents to GMO crops have also used the StarLink debacle
to raise consumer  demands  for  more  testing,  segregation  and
labeling of GMO seeds and foods.  

While  the  Quest  recall  was not based on food safety concerns,
officials from Agricore and Monsanto nevertheless  moved  quickly
on Wednesday to reassure overseas buyers.  

"We  have  people  now  on  their  way  to  Japan  to talk to the
processors and to just assure them that we're doing everything we
can to work with them,"  said Wreford,  speaking from  Agricore's
head office in Winnipeg.  

Canada's  canola  industry welcomed the complete recall of Quest,
but expressed concerns  about  potential  damage  to  its  export
markets.  

"I  hope  it's  perceived  as  stewardship,"  said  Dale Adolphe,
president of the Canola Council of Canada.  

"We just don't need this type of thing to happen and  so  we  are
reacting  from  the  standpoint of trying to create confidence in
the system for our Japanese customers, our U.S.  customers," said
Adolphe.  

Canada ships about 1.8 million tonnes of canola seed annually  to
Japan, worth about C$800 million.  Exports of canola meal and oil
to the U.S.  amount to 1.2 million tonnes annually or about C$500
million per year.  

Staff  at the two Canadian grain handlers involved in Wednesday's
recall spent the day phoning farmers.   Saskatchewan  Wheat  Pool
had  orders  for  Quest  from  between  2,000 to 2,500 producers,
company officials said.  

"The vast majority of our  seed  is  still  in  our  distribution
system.   Only  a  portion of it is on farm,"  said Len Posyniak,
vice president of human resources and communications at Saskpool.  

Posyniak said a very small amount of the canola would  have  been
seeded  this  early in the season.  About 500 tonnes of the Quest
seeds were estimated to be on farm.  

Agricore  officials  said  they  expected  to  have  its   recall
operation,  the cost of which was still unknown, completed by the
end of the day.