Organic producers are concerned that a Health Canada decision deeming most gene-edited crops safe will disrupt their farms and markets.
“It will have a significant effect on our sector,” said Marla Carlson, executive director of SaskOrganics.
In May, Health Canada released a decision which said that gene-edited plants and food from those plants would not be considered ‘novel,’ and thus would not have to pass the federal government’s safety checks before entering the market.
Read Also
Mazergroup’s Bob Mazer dies
Mazergroup’s Bob Mazer, who helped grow his family’s company into a string of farm equipment dealerships and the main dealer for New Holland machinery in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, died July 6 from cancer.
Several exceptions apply — for instance, the plants can’t contain foreign DNA, or known toxins and allergens.
Proponents said the move would open the door for accelerated innovation in plant development.
Under the Canadian Organic Standards, genetically modified foods are not permitted. This includes gene-edited plants.
If gene-edited crops are grown more widely, it will increase the risk that organic crops will be contaminated, Carlson said.
“It’s not an if. It’s a when,” she said.
Organic producers already maintain ‘buffers’ between themselves and conventional fields to prevent chemical spray drift, for instance, explained Garry Johnson, president of SaskOrganics.
“Looking into the future and having maybe GM crops right beside us… that eight-metre buffer may not be enough,” he said.
When genetically modified canola was introduced in Canada, canola was essentially lost to organic producers. To avoid cross-pollination, an organic field would need to be a minimum of 10 km from conventional canola, Johnson said.
The need to buffer “places an unfair burden on our organic producers,” said Janine Gibson, chair of the Organic Food Council of Manitoba.
“It limits what our growers can do, and we’re concerned that this could continue with genetically modified wheat,” she added.
These fears aren’t without historical precedent.
In 2009, the European Union found genetically modified flaxseed in 11 shipments of Canadian flax. Genetically modified flaxseed was prohibited in the EU. This practically shut down what was Canada’s top flax market.
In the same year, Japan found GMO flaxseed in imports from Canada.
At the time, Triffid, the only GMO flax ever produced, had been deregistered for eight years and most of the certified seed had been destroyed.
This caused “horrible problems,” Gibson said. “So yes, we are very concerned.”
Johnson added he’s had trouble finding alfalfa seed guaranteed to be free of GMOs.
“That kind of paints a picture for the future,” he said.
They’re questioning how the organic sector will continue to serve consumers, Carlson said.
It may require updates to organic guidelines said Gibson, who serves on the organic technical committee, which advises the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
SaskOrganics called on the federal minister of agriculture and agri-food to reject a proposal that would end government safety assessments of gene-edited seeds “to ensure safety as well as transparency for farmers,” it said in a May 19 news release.
The CFIA has done consultations on how it would treat gene-edited seeds, though at time of writing it had not released its final decision.
A draft decision suggested the CFIA might approve, without conditions, gene-edited seeds that are not a new crop kind, do not contain foreign DNA, or have the capacity to negatively impact the environment.
