Transgenic crops are already woven through the North American landscape, this we know. And the persistence of these crops in the environment, even after the harvest is gathered and shipped, is more evident with each passing season.

Let's take the case of canola (known as rapeseed outside North America), a crop with a long seed dormancy that makes "volunteer" plants a well-known reality. (Volunteer plants are those that sprout from seeds not intentionally sown, such as seeds that fall from previous crops only to germinate years later.)

A new study out of Sweden confirms this reality, proof that transgenic canola can volunteer in fields many years after it's sown – at least 10 years, in fact. Researchers took samples from a field where transgenic canola was planted in test plots 10 years prior and discovered that about 40 percent of their samples tested positive for a transgenic trait that confers herbicide tolerance.

Because the test plots where this canola was grown 10 years ago had controls in place for preventing this sort of thing, researchers note that volunteer canola is probably more prevalent in commercial fields where no restrictions on planting, including managing for volunteers, applies. Canola is the fourth most commonly grown transgenic crop in the world, behind soy, corn, and cotton.

Not all seeds have long dormancy rates, but some do, like alfalfa. A U.S. federal judge vacated USDA's approval of genetically engineered alfalfa last year, citing the agency's violation of environmental laws and failure to address concerns that transgenic alfalfa will contaminate conventional and organic alfalfa, including through volunteer alfalfa plants that serve as vehicles for spreading transgenic pollen and seeds years after the crop is destroyed. This, plaintiffs argued, has economic ramifications for producers who depend on non-GE markets, including exporters.

Too bad the same precaution wasn't taken for transgenic canola back in 1996. Since then, numerous environmental and economic problems have surfaced, especially in Canada, where most canola is produced.

The rampant spread of transgenic canola has made controlling volunteers extremely difficult. Not only do volunteers spread transgenic material for years to come, but these plants can't easily be eradicated through chemical controls. Canadian growers now find canola plants volunteering in subsequent seasons that are resistant to three herbicides owned by different companies. And to complicate things further, resistant traits are moving into weeds themselves through cross-pollination.

And then there's the fact that most Canadian canola is exported (nearly 75 percent). The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry in Canada says the EU export market for Canadian canola went from $425 million in 1994 to "virtually zero" because of the EU's opposition to GE products.

What we see is the opposition to GE crops growing and the supply of non-GE canola shrinking. When it comes to a true alternative to transgenic and contaminated conventional canola, however, organic canola growers say forget about it. They contend that transgenic canola has made it impossible to grow organic canola and even went so far as to file a lawsuit against Monsanto and Aventis Cropscience on behalf of all organic canola growers in Saskatchewan.

It's clear that Canada's experience with transgenic canola has been instructive. But will the U.S. and other countries pay heed?

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GM Deaths, Bio-diesel reigns!
written by Uncle B, June 21, 2008

Ban the poisons before it is too late

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