GM WHEAT A REAL 'LEMON'

March 25, 2003

The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)

(The paper referred to is available at
www.usask.ca/agriculture/agec/publications/GM%20Canada%203.pdf.)

Paul Hanley, a freelance writer with a special interest in the
environment, writes that permitting the release of genetically
engineered Roundup Ready wheat (RRW) to Canadian farms would make
about as much sense as deliberately releasing mad cow disease.

Hanley goes on to state that the Canadian Wheat Board, the agency
which sells Canada's wheat to the world, surveyed its customers and
discovered that 82 per cent of them do not want and would not buy
wheat that is genetically modified (GM). The reasons for this are not
environmental or ethical but economic: these customers know they can't
sell GM products to consumers. Right or wrong, consumers -- especially
those in Europe -- do not want to eat GM food.

Hanley also notes that in a paper entitled The Optimal Time to License
a Biotech 'Lemon', a group of agricultural economists at the
University of Saskatchewan considered the potential impacts if Canada
was to introduce RRW into the world grain market. Since segregation
isn't feasible, and GM wheat genetics will contaminate non-GM fields
and shipments, many foreign customers -- and even domestic millers --
will stop buying Canadian wheat.

Consequently, all farmers, those growing GM wheat and those who don't,
would lose money, about $45.8 million and $32.3 million respectively.
Only Monsanto would make money, about $157 million, the study found.