Records recently released by the federal agriculture
department indicate a flock of Canada geese completely consumed a plot of
genetically-modified spring wheat growing on the Central Experimental Farm in
Ottawa.
The incident sparked a scientific inquiry into the potential
risks involved and a flurry of bureaucratic activity to respond to questions
from Tom Spears, a reporter for the Ottawa Citizen and much later from the
Manitoba Coopperator.
There was no risk to the environment, the Canadian wheat
industry or the geese, according to a scientific review led by Dr. Margaret
Neuspiel of the Plant Biosafety Office of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
The wheat plot – 40 by 9.2 metres – was being grown for an
undisclosed developer who wanted to test a gene for fusarium resistance.
The Golden2-like (GLK) genes from maize are believed to
confer resistance.
The plot was surrounded by four rows of commercial-variety
wheat intended to distract birds.
Neuspiel’s office was contacted on Aug. 24, 2012, after the
plot had been destroyed by geese.
Tom Spears, a reporter for the Ottawa Citizen, asked
questions soon after, including whether seed could be spread in the poop of the
geese.
The scientific review concluded that the seed is unlikely to
survive the digestive acids of geese and, even if some did survive and
germinate, they would be killed by the following winter weather.
The health of the geese would not be at risk because the
proteins produced by these genes would be broken down, the research review
reports.
The Manitoba Cooperator asked questions in 2013, mainly
about whether any of this wheat was grown in Western Canada.
The bureaucrats responded that it was only grown on the
Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa.
The briefing notes for bureaucrats to answer media inquiries
note that fusarium causes losses of about $1.5 billion a year.
