In 1996, Canada authorized transgenic canola, and seven years later, in 2003, no accreditation for organic canola was granted in Canada. How did a seed that had only been an LLP become invasive in only seven years?
The case of organic flaxseed is even more striking. Transgenic flaxseed was approved in 1998 and withdrawn in 2001. In 2009, Germany reported the presence of GM flaxseed in processed products in 34 countries.
The first explanation for the origin of this problem is the open field trial at the University of Saskatchewan in 1995; from then until 2001, a total of 40 seed producers produced some 200,000 bushels of flaxseed for sale to farmers.
We feel that, in Canada, risk assessment is clearly inadequate for the production and use of agri-food GMOs. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s response to the complaint we submitted in February 2012 illustrates this inadequacy.
A recent study looked at the presence of pesticides in rivers in Quebec. The herbicides used in conventional agriculture are applied by spraying when the seedlings emerge from the soil. In contrast, the herbicides used on GM plants are applied later in the season and have broader impacts on the natural environment. With respect to Roundup, or glyphosate, the study had the following to say:
The detection frequency and measured concentrations for glyphosate continue to increase. This herbicide, which is used on GM corn and soybean crops, was detected, on average, in 86% of the samples collected from the four agricultural rivers under study. The dominant crops in the watersheds of those rivers are corn and soybean
Figure 3 illustrates that.
One of the claims often made by GMO advocates is that herbicide use is reduced when transgenic plants are grown. The results of Giroux and Pelletier’s study show that the opposite is true.
In light of the consequences of contamination by transgenic flaxseed, AmiEs de la Terre de l’Estrie asks that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada establish zero tolerance for the low-level presence of unauthorized GM crops in grain shipments imported into Canada.
Thank you very much.