March 17, 1999 / By Joe Cummins, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Genetics, University of Western Ontario, e-mail: jcummins@julian.uwo.ca
Canada has approved genetically engineered canola patented by the multinational chemical company Rhone Poulenc for their herbicides Bromoxynl and Ioxynil. The herbicide Bromoxynil has a history of controversy in its use after it was found that it caused birth defects in rats and mice.
In the United States, the use of Bromoxynl on cotton was a source of controversy. However, in Canada (where government departments of Agriculture and Health take multimillion dollar payments from chemical companies) the herbicide was quietly approved and used extensively to control weeds in grain crops that are innately tolerant to the herbicide.
The herbicide Bromoxynl is sprayed on the Bromoxynl-resistant canola. As the herbicide is very persistent in treated soil, when farmers rotate crops, Bromoxynl residues can accumulate in grains rotated on the same land.
Residues of the teratogenic herbicide are likely to accumulate in the harvested canola oil and in the cattle and pig food from the residues recovered from pressing canola seed to recover oil. Such pressing residues have also been used as fertilizer on organic farms, a procedure that should be reviewed on the basis of transferring genetic modifications and teratogenic herbicides.
The journal Biotechnology noted that there was a very high likelihood that the herbicide tolerant gene would be transferred to unpatented canola and to at least seven wild plant species but the transfer to wild plant was a minimal threat as the resistant species could be controlled by other herbicides as they became weeds.
The impact of use of the genetically modified crop on biodiversity was given brief discussion with no data and no fundamental knowledge of biodiversity.
Another genetically modified canola, Liberty Ready canola, also employs a highly teratogenic herbicide glufosinate. Importers of canola oil or animal feed from pressed seed should be made aware of these developments and that the products are not labeled. Clearly the Canadian approval process bears the stamp of the millions of dollars from chemical companies.
The information on approval of Bromoxynil resistant canola was taken from Plant Biotechnology Canada August 19, 1998.
