GM VOLUNTEER CANOLA CAUSES HAVOC


September 7, 2001
Western Producer
Michael Raine
http://www.producer.com/articles/20010906/news/20010906news09.html
BIRSAY, Sask. - Ken Howell's fields at his 960 acre farm at Birsay, Sask.,
are, according to this story, now "mostly clear" of genetically modified
canola, but the Saskatchewan farmer says questions raised by the uninvited
guests have yet to be answered.

The story says that GM canola showed up on Howell's herbicide-fallowed land
this year, even though he said he took the necessary precautions to keep it
off his land.

He said he bought certified Hudson, non-GM canola seed two years ago and
rotated it with durum last season. He said he sprayed the appropriate
herbicides for broadleaf weeds, used farm equipment that had not handled GM
crops, and bought seed from a dealer that didn't clean GM seed.
Howell was cited as saying that Monsanto, the company that developed the GM
glyphosate-tolerant canola, has sent workers to his farm to hand pick
the GM plants in an attempt to  eliminate it from his fields but that the company
admitted to him this won't likely be the last he will see of RoundUp Ready
canola on his farm, adding, "They tell me the seed can sit dormant for
up to five years. This is only the second year and it sounds like there is still
some seed out on my fields that didn't get cleaned up."

Monsanto spokesperson Trish Jordan was cited as saying the company is making
every effort to satisfy producers who find "unexpected volunteers" in their
fields.

Howell said Monsanto sent "about 20 kids for six days" to hand pick the
canola plants in mid-August. The canola was bagged in garbage bags and a few
unsealed, large  chemical container disposal bags. Howell said he was told
to burn the plants.

Howell was further quoted as saying, "Who owns these plants, me or
Monsanto...? Why should I contaminate my land with a crop that somebody else
has paid to grow?"

Jack Stabler, head of the University of Saskatchewan's agricultural
economics  department, was quoted as saying there "isn't really a legal
framework to determine what happens when there are unintended
spillovers" of GM plants.  There is a larger issue that has yet to be 
addressed here. So far, there are no simple solutions and I'm not sure 
we as a country want them."

He said that if liability for the plants is assigned to any one group or
company, the result may drive up production costs for GM crops.
"If our international competitors don't assign responsibility in the same
way Canada does, we might not be competitive in the marketplace. There are
many unanswered questions here."