From eaclark@uoguelph.ca Fri May 5 11:57:54 2000 Date: Thu, 04 May 2000 09:29:38 -0500 From: E. Ann Clark To: "sanet-mg@amani.ces.ncsu.edu" Subject: BC organic fruit victory [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ] [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] Folks: I am forwarding this with permission from Linda Edwards, the organic apple grower in B.C. Ann GENETIC ENGINEERING OF TREE FRUITS STOPPED IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. Research was undertaken by the federal Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre in Summerland B.C., to genetically engineer a variety of tree fruits with a gene that would prevent non-browning of the flesh or stems. They were working with a local company called Okanagan Biotechnology Inc. who holds the patent for the gene in question. Organic tree fruit growers in the area found out this past winter that the research had reached the field trial stage. Although these trials would have been small and hopefully well controlled, their ultimate result would have been orchards of genetically engineered trees throughout the Okanagan and Similkameen and the end of organic tree fruit production in those valleys. Organic growers in the Similkameen and the Okanagan valleys began by educating themselves about genetic engineering. The Internet and a number of sympathetic scientists were a great help. The Research Station was informed of the growers concerns. After several months of exchanges of viewpoints, a public meeting and helpful intervention by the provincial Ministry of Agriculture, the federal researchers made the decision to discontinue the work. The lack of support for this technology in the conventional industry undoubtedly also contributed to that decision. The company has announced it is making plans to continue elsewhere in Canada or the US. The organic farm community is very relieved and looks forward to relations with the Research Station returning to normal. WHY WE WERE CONCERNED All tree fruits require pollination to produce a crop. A wide variety of insects assist in this but growers ensure fruit set by renting bee hives. Bees can fly four to five kilometers and therefore can transport pollen for that distance. Pollen is also transported in hives when they are moved from one orchard to another over the pollination season. Research is sometimes cited that says tree fruit pollen will not travel more that 14 meters. This is research done studying movement by wind, something never considered to be an important factor in tree fruit pollination. When we expressed concern about possible pollination contamination, the Research Station sent us an Agriculture Canada^Òs publication ^ÓRegulating the Products of Biotechnology^Ô . This document advises organic farmers concerned that they will not be able to certify their crops as organic because of the potential for cross-pollination with neighbouring biotechnology-derived crops, to establish buffer zones (of non-organic production) on their own farms that are acceptable to the body that certifies their crop. Bee flight of up to 5 kilometers plus the movement of pollen via movement of hives as described above makes this an unworkable and unacceptable option. Any blossom (on a non-genetically engineered tree) pollinated by a bee that has just visited a genetically engineered one will produce fruit that will test positive for genetic modification. The seed of fruit pollinated with pollen from a genetically engineered tree would contain the transformed DNA and the vectors used to put it there. This means in whole fruit testing and in processed forms (juices, baby food etc.), it would be easily detected. This testing would be done by buyers for health concerns. It would also be done because the objections to genetic engineering extend beyond health concerns to issues such as food control and security and the possibility of negative environmental factors. Even though there may have been no foreign DNA in the fruit itself, other changes could have occurred there. Changes in everything from nutrient content to toxin levels have happened with other engineered organisms. One of the engineered pollen nuclei helps to form the endosperm that produces the hormones and growth regulators that catalyze and regulate development of the fruit tissue. No one can say at this time what differences there would have been because of this altered endosperm or what secondary and unknown metabolites might have formed. Nor would any testing have been carried out to determine if any such changes had occurred. This concern is shared by the US National Research Council and the British Food Standards Agency who just released reports stressing the need for improved testing of GM foods for allergies and toxins. Also of immediate importance is that in today^Òs markets, perception becomes reality and just the knowledge that fruit (conventional or organic) was from an area where such orchards existed, might be enough for buyers to look elsewhere. Organic fruit and orchards would become decertified. Conventional fruit growers would find themselves shut out of an increasing number of markets. At best, market awareness that genetically engineered orchards existed in our area would have necessitated expensive testing. At worst, it would have been loss of market share to areas where the possibility of this contamination could not occur. Ironically, it was the two success stories of the BC tree fruit industry that were most immediately threatened by the non-browning technology. The majority of conventional tree fruit growers have been experiencing financial difficulties for a number of years due to competition with larger players all over the world. On the other hand, although the number of organic growers keeps increasing, so has the demand for organic produce by 20 to 25% per year for the past ten years. All surveys and indicators point to this continuing. There are currently about 900 to 1,000 acres of tree fruits (up from 40 acres ten years ago) that are certified organic in the Okanagan and Similkameen. In the Similkameen, somewhere between one third to one half of the tree fruit acreage is certified organic or in transition. Organic tree fruit production is a profitable, rewarding industry that will continue to attract more and more growers. There is also a very successful, high-end, conventional cherry industry locally whose markets include England. Marks and Spence and Tesco in England were major buyers of cherries from this area last season. Again, the reality or even the perception of GE tainted cherries would threaten those markets. Organic farmers in the Prairie Provinces can no longer grow canola where there are growers in their area with genetically engineered crops because of pollination contamination. Thousands of acres of in-demand and very profitable organic canola have gone out of production. The conventional growers are not prospering even with their high tech crops. There are a number of reasons for that including losing lucrative European markets. Conventional growers who are growing mustards or non-genetically engineered canola are also locked out of these markets because of possible contamination. The organic growers of The Okanagan and Similkameen are happy that we will not find ourselves in a similar situation. To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command "unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest". 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