THE GLOBE AND MAIL

'Contaminated' farm seed sold in a genetic mixup

HEATHER SCOFFIELD

OTTAWA  PUBLISHED JANUARY 4, 2000

UPDATED MARCH 23, 2018

This article was published more than 10 years ago.
Some information in it may no longer be current.

The federal government unwittingly allowed the sale of genetically modified canola seeds in 1997 that were "seriously contaminated," according to government documents that have only now come to light.

The virtually unpublicized incident involving canola seeds produced by Monsanto Canada Inc., one of the main proponents of genetically modified food, raises questions about Ottawa's ability to tightly regulate food safety in a biotechnological age.

The documents say the seeds were not harmful, and they were eventually recalled, the first and only such action involving genetically modified foods.

access-to-information documents show that some of the seeds, marketed on the Prairies in 1997, were planted by two farmers before the recall and that some were processed into edible oil.

"This incident has sent shock waves through the domestic biotech-plant-breeding organizations/industry as well as internationally," the Canadian Food Inspection Agency declared in one of the documents.

They were obtained by Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin for The Globe and Mail.

Yesterday, government officials stressed that the seeds posed no danger to the health of Canadians or to the environment. But the documents suggest widespread confusion at the time.

The incident began in March 1997, when the Canadian Food Inspection Agency approved two new strains of canola that were genetically modified by Monsanto to resist its weed-killer, Roundup.

But something went wrong.

Limagrain Canada Seeds Inc., which handled, produced and distributed the Monsanto product, sold seeds that were not the same ones approved by the CFIA.

The products hit the market just before seeding season, and Canadian farmers quickly bought 60,000 bags -- enough to fill 70 tractor-trailers or plant 600,000 acres.

"Our office has been advised that the seed of LG3315 has possibly been seriously contaminated with genetic material from the parental line, GT200 [which was not approved]" said a letter from CFIA to Limagrain in April 15, 1997.

The error was not discovered until April after some farmers planted the seed. 

It turned out that seeds that were approved by the government had subsequently been cross-bred with seeds that were not fully approved by the CFIA.
The result was an untested product with unknown characteristics.

The documents, which include letters, reports, and communiqués related to the incident, do not explain how the seeds were mixed together.

Monsanto -- not the government regulators -- discovered the mistake.

"Monsanto has now completed their investigation and found that the varietal purity problem was not a result of genetic engineering," CFIA documents say.
The mistakes were twofold, Monsanto told the government.
In the first place, seeds that were not approved by the CFIA should have been destroyed; and the companies should not have allowed the seeds to get mixed up and bred together.

"While the loss of these acres is disappointing, it is business as usual and a very manageable situation," Monsanto said in a statement at the time.

Ottawa and Monsanto agreed that a recall should begin immediately, and the companies and government devised ways to destroy the seeds.
But deadlines were missed repeatedly, and the companies found it difficult to track down every last seed and dispose of it, the documents show.

Two farmers had already planted their canola, and the companies had to broker deals with them to have their crops plowed under.
One farmer resisted for months, the documents show.

Some of the seeds used in testing in 1996 were crushed and turned into edible oil and feed for animals.
CFIA officials are not certain if these seeds were contaminated.
Health Canada tested the contaminated canola in 1997 to see if it would be dangerous but found no "significant" health risks.

When the seeds were finally recovered or the crops destroyed in the summer of 1997, the companies and the federal government could not agree on how to dispose of them.

Limagrain wanted to turn the seeds into industrial oil and fertilizer.
But much of the seed was heavily treated with fungicides that were considered hazardous waste. Government authorities told the company it had to bury everything in a landfill.

By November 1997, the companies and government officials agreed that the contaminated seeds had been adequately withdrawn and destroyed.
The government documents show, however, that there was a discrepancy between the amount of seed bought by farmers and the amount actually disposed of.

In some cases, the documents show more seed bought than destroyed, but other data show fewer seeds were bought than destroyed.

The discrepancy amounts to thousands of kilograms of seed, but a Limagrain report blames the difference in packaging and inaccurate scales.

In a separate document, Monsanto fingered Limagrain for the fact that the seed got out at all.

Many grain farms and the growing biotechnology industry have embraced genetically modified crops as more efficient, but consumers are increasingly wary about their health and environmental effects and inadequate government testing.

The massive recall and the only one so far in Canada for genetically modified crops prompted immediate changes in government requirements and company practices, to bolster credibility in an anxious international grain market.

The government and the companies believe that the fact that Monsanto detected the error and officials were able to withdraw the contaminated seeds proves that the system works, the documents say. However, environmentalists said the incident proves that government regulators are too reliant on company data and self-regulation.

SEEDS OF CONTENTION

The life of the contaminated canola seed: April 14, 1997 

Monsanto Canada tells the federal government that it has detected something wrong in canola seed LG3315, a seed genetically modified to be resistant to Monsanto's herbicide, Roundup.
April 16 - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency suspends the registration of LG3315.
Monsanto and seed company Limagrain being the recall of 20,000 bags of seed.
April 25 - Registration is suspended for a second genetically modified canola seed, LG3295. Companies begin recalling 40,000 more bags of seed.
The deadline for withdrawal is set for May 15.
End of May - Seed withdrawal ends after companies plow under a farmer's field and collect 60,000 bags of seed.
July - Companies ask to revise the disposal plan to allow more time.
July 23 - Documents show companies were unable to persuade one farmer to allow his contaminated crop to be plowed under.
August - Canadian Food Inspection Agency allows companies more time for and approves revised disposal plan.
September - Government, and companies argue about how best to dispose of seed.
Government prevails.
October, November - Seed is buried in secret landfill sites in Western Canada.
Nov. 7 - Limagrain says it has cleaned up its LG3295 seed and asks for registration to be reinstated. Jan. 14, 1998 - The government reinstates the registration of LG3295, saying it is now safe.
May 1999 - Companies request de-registration of LG3295 because they have created new seeds with better yield.

Questions

By Rosa Saba Star Calgary

Wed., March 27, 2019

CALGARY—Canadian canola producers are increasingly worried about the future of their crops as a second company has had its export license revoked by China amid concerns the issue could be more political than scientific.

Saskatchewan company Viterra Inc., had its license revoked by China on Tuesday, the second Canadian canola company to have that happen after Manitoba’s Richardson International had its license pulled earlier in March.
Chinese customs officials cited the same pest concerns with Viterra’s shipments as with Richardson’s.

Some are saying the issue is a political one, not scientific, linking it to the ongoing situation with Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.
Meng was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1, and the extradition process began on March 1.

The ministers of international trade and agriculture were called to appear before the parliamentary trade committee next week regarding the ongoing issue.
Just after the second ban was announced, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he’s considering sending officials to China in an effort to sort out the situation.

Brian Innes, vice-president of public affairs with the Canola Council of Canada, said though companies’ permits being revoked is a big issue, the standoff is affecting more than just those two companies.

On March 21, a press release from the council stated China had stopped buying canola seed from Canada altogether, only taking in processed products, such as oil and meal. China is a significant buyer of both processed and unprocessed canola from Canada, accounting for around $3.5 billion every year, or about 40 percent of Canadian canola exports.

China’s canola ban adds to Trudeau’s woes in bitter Huawei feud

Opinion| Thomas Walkom: Canada’s canola conundrum has Trudeau pinned between China and the U.S.

“They’ll be back,” he said. “The markets will adjust, and we’ll get through this.”

China says it blocked sales from Canadian exporters because of contaminants in the seed. But with comments this week telling Canada to “correct the mistakes it made earlier,” the quietly understood became the obvious: the canola moves are retaliation for Canada’s detention of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of the United States.

China has already jailed two Canadians in the wake of the Meng detention.

Canada is not without clout in canola fight with China

By Heather Scoffield Economics Columnist  

Thu., March 28, 2019 

China has kneed Canada right in the canola, and there’s no denying: it hurts to the tune of $2.7 billion in exports per year.

But while China’s blocking of Canadian canola seed has implicated the wherewithal of 43,000 farmers and is wrapped up in the complex battle for economic supremacy between China and the United States, Canada is not without power in this dispute.

Take a look at Richard Gray.

The University of Saskatchewan agricultural economist who farms canola with his son didn’t foresee this exact situation, but he had enough suspicion about the market this year that he took steps to hedge some of his contracts in advance.

For one, China has been culling hundreds of thousands of pigs over the past few months to contain the spread of African swine fever.

Those pigs would normally be eating a lot of Canadian canola.
So Gray locked in at a price a few months ago, and plans to forge ahead with his plans to grow the crop as usual this spring.

Gray quickly acknowledges that not everyone took the same steps and there is a lot of short-term pain and uncertainty on the Prairies.

But he also believes the Canadian canola industry is sophisticated enough to roll with China’s ups and downs. 

Even though China is by far Canada’s biggest customer of canola, and right now no one in China is buying Canada’s canola seed, the world generally needs it all, and Canada’s product will find a lucrative home.

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