OTTAWA, Ontario -- Canadian farmers are upset that they have no way of knowing whether neighboring fields are full of genetically-modified wheat that could potentially cross-pollinate with their conventional crops.
That's because the Canadian government and two companies testing GM wheat refuse to reveal the more than 50 secret test sites across Canada.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) maintains that the locations must be kept secret because Monsanto Canada and Syngenta, the two firms conducting the trials, have expressed concerns about vandalism and industrial espionage.
The companies are growing wheat in five different provinces and are testing strains for increased herbicide tolerance and fungal resistance. The wheat is not registered to go to market, and none of the sites are believed to be near the U.S. border.
Across Canada, farmers groups and environmental agencies are angry over the secret test sites. "We think it's outrageous that the information is not made public by the Canadian government," said Holly Penfound, Greenpeace Canada's environmental health campaign coordinator.
"We believe the Canadian government should be representing the interests of Canadians, not the narrow interests of multinational corporations."
The concern is that the GM wheat's pollen may become wind-borne, spread from the test sites, and cross-pollinate with other crops.
Marc Loiselle, a Saskatchewan grain farmer and spokesman for the province's Organic Directorate, said contamination from GM wheat would mean the loss of organic certification for farmers. "I think it's abhorrent it's being kept secret," he said. "This is something that should be public knowledge."
Monsanto Canada spokeswoman Trish Jordan said the company has taken every precaution to ensure the GM wheat doesn't spread. The plots have 100-foot buffer zones of bare land separating them from other crops, as well as 80 feet of broadleaf crops and another 16 feet of corn to catch stray pollen.
Research shows that gene flow doesn't occur much beyond 20 feet, said Jordan, who added that in most cases Monsanto is exceeding the regulatory guidelines.
But Penfound said they have no way to evaluate whether or not the regulatory conditions are adequate, or even being adhered to properly, since the sites are being kept secret. And Loiselle argues that with the current drought conditions on the Canadian prairies, the high winds are more than capable of picking up pollen and moving it beyond the buffer zone.
The controversy comes at the same time that a number of organizations have sent a letter to Prime Minister Jean Chretien protesting the introduction of GM wheat in Canada. The nine groups who signed the letter include the National Farmers Union, the Canadian Wheat Board and the Canadian Health Coalition.
The letter has also received the support of more than 200 Canadian industry associations, local governments, citizen groups, as well as 50 Canadian experts and researchers and 60 international organizations.
"Overwhelming numbers of Canadian farmers and consumers, as well as customers for Canadian wheat overseas, have said that they do not want GM wheat at this time," the letter reads in part. "We hope the Canadian government will act democratically, heed the wishes of its citizens, and act in the best economic interests of farmers."
Stephen Yarrow, national manager of the CFIA's plant biosafety office, said the trials locations are bound by the government's Access to Information Act, and the locations are considered intellectual property that must be protected against vandalism.
While he said that not many cases of crop vandalism have occurred in Canada, he cited an instance last year in British Columbia when a research plot of trees was destroyed. "They were somebody else's research, who innocently got caught up by activists who thought they were finding transgenic trees," Yarrow said.
Yarrow said the CFIA is caught in the middle of the controversy because it acts as a liaison between the provinces and the corporations. "Perhaps if the developers had been a bit more transparent themselves with who should see this information, then it would not be such a problem," he said.
