May 19, 2000 / Reuters/AFP
PARIS -- The European rapeseed market was cited as shrugging off news on Friday that thousands of hectares of the crop across Europe had been accidentally planted with seeds containing genetically modified (GM) material.
Traders were cited as saying that even if the affected rapeseed were destroyed, as anti-GM activists have urged, the effect on future supply would be minimal. The seeds were reported to have been sown on 600 hectares in France, where the total 2000 rapeseed area was pegged earlier this month at 1.24 million hectares. But traders said the issue could still affect prices over the coming weeks depending on how government authorities and foreign customers reacted to the disclosure.
The AFP story says that the half-dozen firms that dominate the business are already fighting a losing battle to sell their products in Europe, where in some countries hostility to transgenic food is almost visceral.
Experts were cited as saying there was only a statistically tiny risk that the modified pollen will establish a foothold in European vegetation.
Firstly, the amount of contaminant will be quite small, given the relatively small acreage sown and the percentage of genetically-modified material.
Secondly, the rapeseed pollen has to find a compatible partner, such as wild mustard or radish, and a viable hybrid would have to emerge.
Finally, if the modified gene enters that species, it has to survive, which would require the transferred gene to give it a special advantage over rivals for such things as use of soil nutrients, access to water or light.
Brian Johnson, a botanist at English Nature, which advises the British government on wildlife issues was cited as saying the herbicide gene does not seem to confer this benefit, which means that modified plant would probably die out under the law of natural selection, adding, "If one or two percent of the rapeseed crops contains GM material, then you're talking of orders of magnitude of less than that when it comes to the chance of the modified gene getting into another species."
Rapeseed oil, called canola in the United States, is used in food manufacturing, in such things as pizzas, icecreams, cakes, bread and biscuits, but the extraction process destroys the genetically-modified protein.
However, the story says, some byproducts of the process which are used for animal meal do contain the protein.
Germany was cited as saying on Friday it was considering imposing new control measures after it emerged that farmers had unknowingly grown rapeseed from seeds containing genetically modified (GM) material.
The government resisted growing pressure from environmentalists, however, to destroy the 300 hectares of affected crops, insisting they posed no risk to health.
Spanish environmentalists were cited as saying on Friday they were concerned that genetically modified (GM) rapeseed accidentally mixed with traditional varieties could spread to the country from elsewhere in Europe.
Seed company Advanta, part of a 50-50 venture between Anglo-Swedish group AstraZeneca Pls and Dutch cooperative Cosun, was quoted as saying in a statement issued from its French office that the traces of GM material in traditional seeds highlight the crucial need for European measures to guarantee the purity of seeds. GM plants produce very little pollen, which makes contamination of neighbouring fields or wild species improbable."
(posted without permission)
