Thursday, January 15, 2015

Canada geese destroyed GMO wheat plot

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.