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GE Grain Contamination Shutting Down Overseas Markets

Against the Altered Grain

Some North American crops grown from Bioengineered seeds face bans in
certain lucrative export markets
By Anthony Shadid, Boston Globe Staff, 5/2/2001

WASHINGTON - The nation's agricultural industry - from farmers to food
processors - is bracing for the latest and possibly most far-reaching
repercussion of the introduction of bioengineered foods: lucrative export
markets closed to unapproved crops grown in North America.

Monsanto Co. announced last week that it had recalled hundreds of tons of
bioengineered canola seed from Canadian farmers because the shipments may
have contained genetic material not approved for consumption in Japan, one
of the leading export markets for Canada and the United States.

A spokesman for Monsanto said the St. Louis-based company is trying to find
out how the mistake happened. But experts contend that such mistakes are
likely to occur more often and become more costly as long as biotech seeds
grown in North America remain banned in markets like Europe and Japan.

''The problem is very serious and it's something we're not prepared for,''
said Neil Harl, an economics professor and farm expert at Iowa State
University. ''It's already hurting us on the export side.''

The danger to the United States's nearly $52 billion food export market has
prompted even supporters of biotechnology - most recently, the North
American Millers Association - to urge a reform in the way federal agencies
regulate biotech and what seeds biotech companies market.

Adding urgency to those calls are the mounting number of food processors
that are insisting their ingredients contain no biotech material.

Genetically engineered crops - mainly corn, cotton and soybeans - entered
the market five years ago. Their benefits were obvious to many: Some
varieties could tolerate pesticides or even produce their own insecticides.
As a result, their use skyrocketed, in particular in the Midwest. Nearly two
thirds of this year's soybean crop is expected to be genetically engineered,
up from just over half in 2000. A similar portion of the cotton crop relies
on biotech seeds, while just under a quarter of American corn is genetically
engineered.

The problem, though, is that many varieties are not approved in other
countries. Of 16 bioengineered varieties of canola, for instance, 14 are
approved in Canada, but only 10 are sanctioned in Japan and three in the
European Union. Corn, whose exports earn the United States nearly $4.5
billion a year, is similar: While 16 varieties are allowed in the United
States, only 10 have received approval in Japan and just four in the EU.

That poses the requirement, by default, of separating crops intended for
export overseas - a growing challenge for the industry, which admits that
the sheer bulk of harvests means they are often freely mixed. In markets
where varieties are not approved, the tolerance is zero, and even one kernel
could be grounds for rejecting a shipment.

''Zero is a really low number,'' said James Bair, vice president of the
millers association, a Washington-based trade group that represents 45
milling companies in 37 states. ''The US system developed over 100 years to
handle massive quantities of grain which are basically interchangeable in
their suitability for all end uses,'' he said. ''That system is fantastic in
its ability to do that. But it's not very nimble when it comes to satisfying
special needs.''

His group urged the government last week to coordinate with other countries
the licensing of biotech seeds. Unless those seeds are approved in all major
markets, it said, they should be kept off US farms. It also urged companies
to stop selling seeds that lack ''broad international approval.''

That topic was a focus of attention at a meeting in April of the USDA's
Advisory Committee on Agricultural Biotechnology, formed in January 2000 to
advise the federal government on biotech issues. Some participants raised
concerns that the US farm system is increasingly vulnerable to the mixing of
biotech and non-biotech crops as well as the risk of bioengineered plants
like corn passing their genetic traits through cross-pollination.

Both are likely factors in the resilience of StarLink, a variety the
government approved only for animal use out of concern that it might cause
allergic reactions in people. It was planted on just a fraction of farmland
but has showed up in food ranging from taco shells to corn dogs, forcing the
costly recall of more than 300 products. ''That illustrates what happens
with bulk commodities,'' said Charles Hurburgh, an Iowa State University
professor and director of the Iowa Grain Quality Initiative. ''If one farmer
plants it, then everyone has to test.''

Such testing could become more important.

Fearing consumer backlash, McDonald's has told its suppliers it doesn't want
genetically engineered potatoes. Other food processors have made similiar
demands, including Frito-Lay Co. and Novartis AG, maker of Gerber baby
food. In April, sugar refiners told farmers to avoid bioengineered sugar beets.

While sugar beets are a minor crop, the decision was the latest setback for
biotechnology companies like Monsanto and Aventis SA, which are already
struggling with the looming need for segregated crops. ''It's a challenge
that we'd rather not have,'' said Loren Wassell, a Monsanto spokesman.

Wassell said Monsanto has sought uniform global standards for biotech
products, creating a market with little distinction between genetically
engineered and conventional varieties. He said the company would not market
seeds unless they were approved in both the United States and Japan, which
imports more than $9.3 billion in US farm products.

Without uniform standards, US farmers risk losing more exports. Already, US
shipments of corn to Europe have evaporated over the use of bioengineered
seeds, closing a $200 million-a-year market.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture has urged seed companies not to sell
varieties not approved overseas. And, worrying US farmers, some countries
like Brazil are beginning to market soybeans and other products as free of
genetically altered material, playing on consumer fears.

''The American farmer loses out on this,'' said Hurburgh. ''This is going to
be a running battle for quite some time.''

Anthony Shadid can be reached by e-mail at ashadid@globe.com.

This story ran on page C04 of the Boston Globe on 5/2/2001.