The annual meeting of the Canada Grains Council is underway in Winnipeg and yesterday was devoted to market access issues. Some interesting information came out regarding European market access for Canadian flax. When a German bakery found traces of GM flax in its products last August, this was a lead news story in Europe for a couple of days. With the testing protocols that have now been established, one GM flax seed in 40,000 is enough to give a positive test. About 16,000 tonnes of Canadian flax was rejected after arriving in Europe. This flax is in quarantine and the exporters are having trouble getting it moved anywhere. Canada is now shipping more flax to China than to Europe. Canada also sends flax to the U.S. and the U.S. has somehow managed to continue exporting flax to Europe without restrictions. So great is the European paranoia with GM crops that they won’t accept flooring and ink products made with trace amounts of GM. In fact, in an amazing irony, they even want cigarette paper made from fiber that isn’t GM. While the restrictions have been hard on Canadian flax producers, the market access issue is going to generate lawsuits and bankruptcies among European flax importers and processors. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Tags: Canada Grains Council, Canadian flax, GM flax
The Flax Council of Canada is reporting that it has found extremely low levels of Triffid, the unregistered GM flax, in more breeder seed samples. Triffid has now been discovered in the flax varieties CDC Bethune, CDC Sorrel and CDC Sanctuary. As a result, there is now a shift in the issue of producers using farm-saved seed. The Flax Council says farm-saved seed will be allowed, but under rigorous sampling and testing procedures. Those protocols should be announced this week and it’ll be interesting to see the requirements. It appears that if you test enough samples and sub-samples and if the tests are sensitive enough, Triffid contamination is widespread. In many of these tests, Triffid is only present at one or two seeds per million. That’s way below European requirements, but it isn’t zero. It will be very difficult if not impossible to completely eliminate Triffid from the seed supply. For that reason, liability is going to be an issue for anyone selling flax seed. Expect to be presented with a liability waiver if you’re buying flax seed this spring. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Tags: CDC Bethune, CDC Sanctuary, CDC Sorrel, Flax Council of Canada, GM flax, liability waiver, Triffid
The Flax Council of Canada has posted another update on the GMO issue. The European Union has endorsed a Flax Protocol which describes the system of sampling, testing and documentation pertaining to the presence of CDC Triffid in shipments of Canadian flaxseed to Europe. Canadian labs are being validated so they can test samples to make sure they’re free of Triffid before export. Producers are being asked to take representative samples of their flax. In the next few days, the Flax Council says it will provide producers with instructions as to how and where to get samples tested. Producers are being assured that if Triffid is discovered the industry will assist the producer in moving the flax into a market that will accept it without penalty. The aim is to make sure that Triffid is eliminated and doesn’t reappear in Canadian shipments. There’s no word yet on how all the testing will be paid for. The Flax Council is hopeful that labs will be validated and sufficient testing will be conducted in time for flax shipments to Europe to resume before the close of navigation on the St. Lawrence Seaway. Despite the major disruption in flax exports, flax bids have been improving. Of course, there’s a lot of flax that’s yet to be harvested. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Tags: Flax Council of Canada, GM flax
Prospects appear to be brightening for a resolution of the GM flax issue in Europe. A protocol has been developed by the Canadian government in consultation with the Flax Council of Canada and the European regulatory agency known as DG Sanco. According to the Flax Council, the protocol describes a system of sampling, testing and documentation related to the presence of the GM flax variety CDC Triffid in shipments of Canadian flax to Europe. The protocol is designed to satisfy the EU zero tolerance policy for unauthorized GMOs – in other words, no detection at a 0.01 per cent level 19 times out of 20. DG Sanco has given EU member states time to discuss the protocol. A decision is expected the week of October 26. The Flax Council says that even if the protocol is accepted, considerable work will need to be done to develop the necessary sampling and testing capacity. Some European crushers would like to see flax exports from Canada resume before the close of navigation on the St. Lawrence Seaway, but this isn’t likely. Still the issue appears to be heading towards a successful resolution. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Tags: DG Sanco, Flax Council of Canada, GM flax
